At the south end of Balkan Peninsula and on the east bank of the Mediterranean Sea, there's a mysterious and ancient country with beautiful landscape---that's Greece. In later autumn, I had the chance to set my foot on this piece of dreamlike land as a member of the Chinese news delegation and appreciated the Hellenic culture, which I had admired in my heart for a long time. The warm and hospitable Greeks showed great interests in the Chinese who came from afar, especially they held special respect and admiration for the founder of new China, the late Chairman Mao, who passed away 27 years ago.

　　As I have been influenced by what had happened in the 1950s and 1960s, I hold special affections for Mao Zedong. For many years, I have kept the habit of wearing Mao Zedong badge. With 1 cm in diameter, this kind of round badge is not eye-catching when it is worn on the chest. Before my trip, I took 30 badges with me and intended to give Greek friends as gifts. Who would have known that these ordinary badges have been very popular among the Greeks.

　　I still remembered when I visited the Parthenon, where there was a huge crowd of visitors. Our delegation was not that conspicuous as the delegation had a few members. When I was listening to the interpreter, some Greeks came to me and showed great interest in the badge wearing on my chest. They cried out excitedly "China, Mao, China, Mao", two even came over to me and gently touched the badge.

　　This badge, small as it is, has aroused curiosity and admiration of so many people, and some of them even came over to me and touched it, while others asked for taking a photo with "Chairman Mao". Seeing the crowd was becoming larger and larger, in order not to give adverse affect on other visitors, I took the badge off my chest and gave it to an elderly Greek as gift. When the interpreter told him that this was a present, he excitedly gave me a kiss on my face.

　　Chairman of Greece Journalists Association had a great respect for Mao Zedong. From my exchanges of remarks with him, I learned that he visited China before and had a pen with Chairman Mao's image. He cherished it very much and always brought it with him.

　　The chairman, over 60 years old, is a senior journalist, he is also a Mao Zedong worshiper. According to him, whenever he came to China, the first thing he would do is to see Mao in Chairman Mao's Memorial no matter how busy he might be. This has become a rule for his Chinese trip.

　　A staff member of the Chinese Embassy in Greek told me a true story. There's an old village head. He went to China with a freighter in 1967 when he was still a young sailor, unfortunately the freighter caught fire at Qingdao Port. Upon receiving SOS signal, officers and men of the Chinese navy rushed to the freighter and put down the fire and saved the freighter as well as lives of all crewmembers. When he got back to Greek, he could never forget the great country founded by Mao Zedong and the people's army armed with Mao Zedong Thought. In the past several dozen years, when there's an important occasion related with Mao Zedong, he would buy some fruit for Chinese embassy staff.

　　By Dai Yunpeng

　　(December 26, PLA Daily)