He’s not the Son or God. But Chairman Mao Zedong has been stealing his thunder, as Chinese authorities arranged a series of events to mark the birthday of the Party’s own saint.

Mainland media outlets had to blur images of Christmas decorations in their programs as authorities sought to contain the influence of western festivals in China.

Still, celebrations were held across the mainland on Boxing Day, which marks the 127th anniversary of Mao’s birthday. Mao was born on Dec. 26, 1893.

Outside the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Beijing, people started queuing up for a glimpse of Mao’s embalmed body inside the mausoleum, mainland media reported. The visitors included Mao’s grandson Mao Xinyu, daughter-in-law Liu Siqi and his former bodyguards and workers.

Tens of thousands of people in Mao’s hometown of Shaoshan in Hunan held a mass meal gathering and paid tribute to a bronze statue of Mao. They sang the Chinese revolutionary song “The East is Red,” which features Mao as China’s savior in its lyrics.

The China National Space Administration earlier moved the Shenzhou 10 manned spacecraft to a Mao museum in Shaoshan for display. Museum officials said the move upheld President Xi Jinping’s stress on remembering the Communist Party’s “red genes.”

In the southwestern Yunnan province, shows with Mao impersonators and the Red Army were performed to depict the party’s Long March during the 1930s.

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