Mao Is Gone

The Chinese have thrown Mao Zedong under the bus.

For the first time in nearly a decade, China is issuing banknotes without the image of the mass murderer, Chairman Mao.

The 10 yuan notes instead feature Beijing new Olympic stadium on the front, with an ancient Greek statue of a discus thrower on the back.

Both are set against the backdrop of the Temple of Heaven, sited in Beijing.

The BBC Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai reports that "the Mao personality cult that once dominated China was largely killed off by the architect of China's modernisation, Deng Xiaoping."