Chairman Mao’s grandson may be the very model of a modern major-general; possibly the youngest in all of the People’s Liberation Army.

Speaking recently in his capacity as a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences, and as an expert in Mao Zedong Thought, Mao Xinyu was introduced as a major-general. It was the first signal that the only known surviving heir in the male line from the Great Helmsman may have been promoted from senior colonel. His elevation, reportedly in June, makes the scion of the Mao family the youngest major-general in the 2.5-million-strong PLA. He is 39.

The only child of the late Chairman’s second son, Mao Anqing, the younger Mao studied history at People’s University in Beijing before he was spotted in the late 1980s working as a student waiter at the newly opened Shangri-La hotel. He later entered the army, following in the footsteps of his mother, who also reached the rank of major-general.

Mao Xinyu serves as a deputy head of the academy’s research centre on war and military strategy. In a recent interview, he said he had fulfilled a dream. “I never thought I would be able to enter the military, even less did I dream that I could reach the rank of major-general.”

Some media analysts have voiced doubts about his reported rise in rank. Latest photographs show him still wearing the insignia of a colonel on his uniform. But a journalist who reported on a recent speech by the younger Mao in his father’s native province of Hunan was corrected by an aide who insisted on an alteration to the story to identify Mao Xinyu as a major-general rather than as a colonel. That was the first clue to a possible promotion.

If true, Mao Xinyu would join the ranks of several other renowned major-generals who are not on active service — among them his mother, who was a prominent photographer. One of the best known today is the popular PLA singer Peng Liyuan, 47, the wife of Xi Jinping, the Politburo Standing Committee member and Vice-President. Others are the table tennis player Wang Tao, 42; China’s first man in space, Yang Liwei, 44; and Song Zuying, 43, who sang at the Olympics closing ceremony.

Mao Xinyu is also a member of an advisory body to parliament and the author of an anecdotal history book published in 2004 under the title Grandpa Mao Zedong. The youthful general takes after his grandfather both as a keen swimmer and also in his physique. In a recent interview, he told Chinese reporters: “I am fat, so I need to work out to lose some extra pounds. I go mountain climbing, swimming. My favorite sport is swimming. Besides that, I spend most of my time reading.”

He added: “These hobbies are all the same as my grandfather. But, of course, there’s one more even more important, and that’s eating braised pork!” Fatty pork belly, braised for hours, was the Chairman’s favourite dish.

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