Visiting Mao’s China
For the thousands of foreign visitors who travelled behind the ‘bamboo curtain’ to visit Mao’s China, hospitality workers – guides, drivers, waiters, chambermaids – were unofficial ambassadors for the new socialist state, and the state knew it.
In 1973, following Mao Zedong’s dictum to ‘serve the people’, workers at Shanghai’s Jinjiang Hotel made a proud declaration: ‘Industry produces steel. Agriculture produces grain. We must produce quality service.’ As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sought to fulfil its socialist destiny and surpass the West, the importance of China’s industrial and agricultural output was obvious. Less clear was the place of the workers who cleaned hotel rooms, carried trays, and guided foreign visitors on sightseeing tours. While steel and grain would be consumed by ‘the people’, hotels such as the Jinjiang were places most of ‘the people’ were not even permitted to enter.
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