When then 14-year-old Yang Chunbing gingerly wore his first badge displaying the late Chairman Mao's portrait 37 years ago, he believed the insignia would protect him from any misfortune during the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-76) era.

However, Yang never expected he would probably become one of China's largest collectors of Mao Zedong badges.

"Visitors' enthusiasm far exceeds my expectations," said a beaming Yang as spectators kept pouring into an exhibition of his collection of badges in Qufu City of east China's Shandong Province.

More than 500,000 workers, peasants and students have visited the exhibition in honor of "the Great Helmsman" since it opened on July 1 at the city's Confucius Research Institute, where Yang works.

As Mao's 110th birth anniversary draws near on Dec. 26, the Chinese media has stepped up preparations to commemorate Mao, the New China founder who passed away in 1976.

The exhibition again featured Mao's lingering influence, surpassing in popularity the institute's other displays on Confucius, the most influential Chinese thinker during the past millennia.

"I'm a little shocked at the number of Mao badges Yang collected," said Xu Chuanjun, Communist Party secretary of the Confucius Research Institute.

"For visitors' sake, we will run the exhibition on Mao's badges in the institute forever," Xu said.

"His charisma remains and his spirit is everlasting, Mao Zedong will live forever in our hearts," wrote an unnamed viewer in the visitors' book.

Wearing Mao's badges and waving little red books printed with his pithy sayings showed respect among Chinese towards Mao Zedong in the "Cultural Revolution" era.

China produced some eight billion Mao badges in more than 50, 000 categories during the "Cultural Revolution".

For 27 years after Mao's death in 1976, China has never produced a single badge for any of its leaders.

More than one million collectors are now gathering Mao badges in China, according to Yang Chunbing's estimate.

"My only hobby was to collect Mao badges," said Yang, who has spent about 150,000 yuan (18,000 US dollars) on his collections during the past 37 years.

His collections include some 18,000 items badges highlighting historical events like National Holiday celebrations, the war to resist US aggression in Korea and the liberation of Tibet in 1951.

"I'm not a collector with an investor's vision," Yang said, "my collection was entirely motivated by my personal passion."

Sociologists contend the varied attitudes among Chinese toward Mao badges in different eras would remain an everlasting topic for researchers.

"The badges were the political work of art and historical relics reflecting the special era of the 'Cultural Revolution'," said Yang Shanmin, associate professor in philosophy and social development at Shandong University.

"It was an extreme way for ordinary people to eulogize Mao Zedong by wearing his badges," he said.

Yang's mania for Mao badges, however, does not extend to the younger generation, at least not in his own family.

His wife Kong Xiangrong stood by his side from the very beginning.

"I support my husband because our generation had very deep feelings towards the beloved Chairman Mao," Kong said. "We felt the sky had fallen in when we heard of Mao's death in 1976."

However, their 26-year-old daughter Yang Xiaoyan, born after Mao's death, could not understand her father's eccentric hobby when she was young, calling him too conservative about "the old stuff".

And the daughter later found it difficult to turn a blind eye to Mao's influence in modern China as Mao Zedong Thought was listed as an obligatory course in China's universities.

"When I read Mao's saying 'there is always a way out whatever difficult we have', I thought, 'not bad'," said Yang junior.

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