Mao Lives On

What is your definition of an "authentic" photo?
An authentic photo is one that reflects the person accurately...Technically, film cannot capture an image 100 percent accurately...Chairman Mao holds a special place in Chinese people's hearts. We must protect his glorious image, so a photo showing him old and tired is not authentic. Nor are photos showing him with black teeth. He was so busy, where could he find time to brush his teeth? Only by making his teeth white would the photo be an authentic reflection of Chariman Mao.

That was taken from a South China Morning Post (a HK paper) interview with Chen Shilin, a photograph retouching specialist who worked for China during the Mao/Cultural Revolution years and eventually became head of photo-processing at Xinhua, China's largest news agency. His Mao works include the 100RMB note and that big portrait at the Forbidden City.

Personally, I always just assumed Mao had a grill full of gold teeth. Guess I was wrong.