They came, they saw, they sang.
Dozens of senior Chinese tourists, mostly female, decided to belt out revolutionary songs when they were outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York, reported South China Morning Post.
One female tourist even led the group in singing, who positioned herself in front, conducting animatedly and singing at the same time.
Based from a video recording, many of the visibly happy tourists were even clapping while singing in glee.
According to Jinan Daily, this group, all 36 of them with age ranging from 50-60, hail from Jinan in Shandong Province. They were the first batch of Chinese tourists participating in the tourism campaign, “Hello America,” reported SCMP.
Perhaps the group thought that rendering a group song of a revolutionary hymn praising the Chinese Communist Party and its Marxist leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) would be a fitting way to conclude their 14-day U.S. tour.
For almost a minute, they all sang “Socialism Is Good” (1958) to their heart’s content.
The tourists sang these lines: “Socialism is good, socialism is good! In socialist nations, the people have high status. Overthrow the reactionaries. Imperialism flees with its tail between its legs. The entire nation is in great unity and has raised the socialist construction to a new height, to a new height. Socialism is good, socialism is good! The people protect the socialist system. The popular capacity is solid, the resistance of reactionary cliques is completely futile. The socialist society will definitely succeed, a communist society will definitely be achieved, will definitely be achieved!”
Then they burst into a round of applause at the end of their performance.
Not everyone got impressed by the act.
One YouTube commenter by the name of “Zguob Zheng” said in Chinese that she felt “very ashamed.” “Edwardhyan” suggested them that they should go to Tiananmen Square and take their singing there.
Reverence to Mao still abounds in 21st century China, and instances like this attest to it.