On our first day in China we went to Tiananmen Square. The place was so packed with people that we had a hard time moving around. There were various monuments to the communist revolution all over, but the thing that surprised me the most was that they actually keep Mao Zedong’s taxidermied body on display in a glass case for the public, though you’re not allowed to take any pictures. I found myself totally baffled, not only by the fact that people are able to revere someone as horrible as Mao, but also by how they commemorated him. I tried to imagine what it would be like in America if we decided to honor an important leader like MLK Jr. by preserving his corpse and putting it on display in a glass box, and I just can’t fathom it. It was a powerful thing to see, because it demonstrates that not all of the habits, behaviors, and traditions that we have in America are universal.