Mao Tse-tung's image has received the iconic Andy Warhol treatment. It's been plastered onto tens of millions of kitschy cigarette lighters, medallions, watches, T-shirts and snow domes.
Yet when a painting bearing the former Chinese communist leader's visage was displayed this week as part of a lunar new year celebration in Alhambra, it set off a debate in Southern California's Chinese community about ghosts from the past and the promise of the future.
A former basketball player for China's national team demanded the city remove the painting, saying the display romanticized a despot responsible for the death and suffering of millions of Chinese. The artists behind the exhibit agreed that Mao was a tyrant but countered that Mao brought about a new era of Chinese nationalism, one that would springboard the nation into modern times.
The debate bounced from holiday dinner banquets to Chinese-language talk radio after organizers of Alhambra's Chinese New Year festival -- set to begin today -- decided to remove the artwork from City Hall.
Many of the immigrants, who make up America's largest Chinese community, arrived in the San Gabriel Valley to get away from the repressive thumb of the Chinese communist government. And for decades, the community had an undeniable anti-communist bent.
But with the economic rise of China and the passing of generations, Chinese Americans have come to admire what the country has become while still being wary of the government.
Two years ago, a Chinatown businessman raised the red Chinese flag atop a building -- a move that just a few years earlier would have certainly generated protests but ended up causing little rancor.
But the Mao paintings touched a chord.
Although some admit they have a conflicting view of Mao -- not only recognizing the suffering that occurred under his rule but also his role in guiding China into becoming a global power -- most are wondering what the fuss is all about.
They see the spat as overblown and are questioning how a single complaint could result in the removal of the artwork.
"We live in America. We see caricatures of George Bush and George Washington all the time. What's the big deal?" said Philip Young, president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Los Angeles Lodge. "I'm for free speech."
Some say it's too late to change the perception of Mao.
