Father Mao and the country-family: mixed emotions for fathers, officials, and leaders in China

What does it mean when Mao Zedong is called ‘father Mao’ and when ordinary people in central China put a poster of Mao in the place of the ancestors and the emperor? This article is about ordinary affection for the Chinese state, and explores changing ideas of the leader as a father and the country as a family. The first part deals with the historical transformations of such family metaphors from the late Qing dynasty to the present, describing the vernacularization and sentimentalization of the ‘Confucian order of the father/son’ in 20th century China. Against this historical background and based on fieldwork material from central China, the second part deals with the mixed emotions people have for fathers at home, local officials and national leaders now.