More than 70,000 people traveled to the hometown of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Shaoshan, Central China's Hunan Province during the Spring Festival as part of a local tradition to pay tribute to the Great Helmsman at the start of each lunar year.
在每年春节期间，都会有超过七万名游客前往位于中国中部湖南省韶山的中国前任领导人毛泽东的故居。每年春节伊始的这一举动，已经成为当地人民向这位伟大领导人致敬的一种传统。
According to the official website of the Shaoshan government, a total of 72,195 people had visited Mao Zedong Square and other memorial spots in the city as of Saturday, the last day of the Spring Festival break.
据韶山市政府官方网站统计，截止本周六，也就是春节假期的最后一天，共计有72195名游客参观了毛泽东故居和这座城市的其他纪念地点。
"It has become a voluntary event for local residents to pay visits to Mao Zedong's old residence or other museums related to him in Shaoshan during the Spring Festival holidays," Huang Feng, an official from the memorial hall of Mao in Shaoshan, told the Global Times on Saturday.
本周六，韶山毛泽东纪念馆官员黄凤告诉《环球时报》：“在春节放假期间参观毛泽东故居或韶山其他有关他的博物馆，已经成为当地人民的自发活动。”
Huang said that people want to "celebrate the lunar new year with their beloved Chairman Mao."
黄凤表示，人们想和他们敬爱的毛主席共贺新年。
He Sai, a local Shaoshan resident, told the Global Times that it is his family's tradition to prepare flowers to place at Mao Zedong Square on the eve of the Spring Festival.
韶山居民何塞告诉《环球时报》，除夕夜在毛泽东故居前放束鲜花，是他家的传统。
"Thousands of people came to the square where Mao's statue stands… they burned joss sticks and paper offerings to worship Mao" read an article on a visitor's WeChat account on Wednesday.
周三，一名游客在微信上的一篇文章中写道：“上万人来到毛泽东主席的雕像前，点燃香烛，摆放祭品，以吊念毛主席。”
Liu Guihong, an 88-year-old resident from Xiangtan in Hunan Province who knelt in the square for half an hour, was quoted by the article as saying that Mao was his personal benefactor, offering him a new life after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
湖南湘潭88岁的居民刘桂红在广场上长跪半个小时。微信文章中指出，毛泽东是他的恩人，1949年新中国成立，他也从此过上了新生活。