Ho Chi Minh
A team of Russian scientists and medical experts have arrived in Vietnam with the express purpose of preserving the already preserved corpse of former president Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnamese state and its people are, on all accounts, ever thankful to the Russians for their continued assistance in looking after the country’s revered (by some at least) founding communist leader.
Vladimir Lenin
He’s in good company too. Comrades Lenin of Russia, Kim Il Sung of North Korea, and Mao Tse Tung of China all went through a similar embalming and mummification process, violating, as with Ho Chi Minh, their last wishes. So there they are just rotting away in display cases, falling apart, their expressionless expressions the product of countless man hours of makeup artistry, only to be ogled at by foreign tourists and worshipping locals. Still you gotta laugh.
Kim Il Sung
I’ve only been lucky enough to see one of said four – Lenin. My chance to view chairman Mao’s mummy was cut short by a staggeringly long queue and an over zealous People’s Liberation Army officer who took offence at some of my photography. A missed opportunity indeed . . . .
Mao Tse Tung
[...] Robert Bonnett – I always [...]
[...] Embalming dead revolutionaries was one of the Soviet Union’s strongest cultural exports, and Vietnam was no exception. So, despite Ho Chi Minh’s stated desire to be cremated, he was given the full Lenin treatment by Soviet taxidermists and now lies in state in a marble mausoleum, designed by Soviet architects. [...]