Mao Zedong's East Lake Villa

The East Lake Villa (Donghu Binguan), on the western shore of East Lake, was Mao Zedong's preferred residence outside Beijing and the place where he reportedly spent more time than anywhere except Zhongnanhai. The compound, built in the late 1950s, contains several villas in different styles set among gardens leading to a private section of the lakefront, and is preserved as a museum documenting Mao's association with Wuhan.

The display covers Mao's swims in East Lake and the Yangtze, his meetings with foreign dignitaries here, and the role of Wuhan in several key moments of his political career — including events during the Cultural Revolution when the city experienced a violent factional conflict known as the Wuhan Incident. The villa itself, with its functional Maoist-era architecture and lakefront location, gives a more domestic and human picture of the Chairman than the more monumental Beijing sites. Combined with the nearby Hubei Provincial Museum, it makes for a full day in the East Lake area.

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Mao Zedong swam in East Lake 42 times over his lifetime, and his swims here were political statements as much as exercise — each time he swam the Yangtze (18 times total), the news was used to demonstrate his vigour and authority. He was 72 the last time he swam across the full width of the Yangtze, in 1966 at the start of the Cultural Revolution.