Synopsis

Chairman Buddha is about the mythology of Mao Zedong, whom many Chinese today believe has been reincarnated as a Buddha. Nobody knows precisely when and where it began, but some people believe it started in the early 1990s, after an accident involving eight cars in Guangzhou, a city in south China.

Since then, temples for Mao worship have been built in the countryside, and Mao statues have been re-erected in city squares.  Believing Mao is more powerful than the ancient Indian Buddha, worshipers light incense and fall to their knees before his statues. Although the Chinese government has cautiously tried to stifle it, Mao worship has continued to spread throughout China.