It is a sign of the rapidly changing times that China has virtually ignored the 25th anniversary of the death of the man who founded the People's Republic, Mao Zedong.
In previous years the anniversary was marked by some comment and commemoration, but it slipped by quietly on Sunday.
The fact that there was no recognition of the death of the founding father of the New China was interpreted by some as a sign that the government is toning down commemorations of him as the country moves forward into a new era of change and development.
Despite a high regard for Chairman Mao among the vast majority of older Chinese people, he is blamed for two episodes that led to millions of lives being lost - the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
"Usually the media are instructed to carry material on major anniversaries and commemorations. It would appear on this occasion that no such edict was issued for Mao's 25th," said one former senior official.
While an estimated 1,000 pilgrims paid their respects to the revolutionary leader at his home town in Hunan province, there were no commemorations held by the central government in Beijing.
The Mao Zedong Memorial Hall in Tiananmen Square was closed as usual on Sunday. The main official newspaper, the People's Daily, did not carry any editorial or comment to mark the anniversary. Only the Beijing Daily carried a short article praising Mao for his work in establishing the Communist Party in 1921, for setting up the first "rural revolutionary base" in 1928 and for leading China in its war against Japanese aggression.
"After the establishment of new China and as the core of the first generation of collective leadership, Mao Zedong continued to push forward China's historic development," the article said.
Yet a quarter of a century after his death Mao still lives on in the minds of the Chinese people.
Mao's deification began soon after his death on September 9th, 1976, and by the early 1990s a full-scale revival of his image was under way. His embalmed corpse attracts thousands of people every day to Mao's Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square.
Meanwhile, China yesterday outlined in detail for the first time the freedoms Taiwan would enjoy if it reunified with the mainland under a formula applied in the former European colonies Hong Kong and Macau.
The Chinese Vice Premier, Mr Qian Qichen, said that under a "one country, two systems" policy, Taiwan would keep its own currency, military, customs status and government structure. He told a forum on "China in the 21st Century" that Beijing would neither levy taxes nor appoint mainland officials on the island.
The offer was rejected by a Taiwan official on the grounds that China still regarded the island as a renegade province and not a de facto sovereign state.