An Ear That Exposed Mao Zedong’s Double? Visiting the Cold War Museum’s Model of Mao’s Left Ear
According to Voice of America Chinese, the Cold War Museum located in Vint Hill, Virginia, is exhibiting a special collection—an enlarged plaster model of Mao Zedong's left ear. According to reports, the model was donated by former intelligence official Dino Brugioni to help the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) distinguish Mao Zedong himself from his body double through manual comparison before the advent of digital facial recognition technology. Photographs of Mao Zedong from various periods are also displayed next to the model as a reference. Francis Gary Powers Jr., the founder of the museum, believes that U.S.-China relations have entered a "Cold War 2.0" era and expressed concern over the lack of Cold War history education among American students. He also humorously mentioned that the CIA might possess ear models of other Chinese leaders as well.
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It was originally made by the CIA so that the CIA people monitoring Mao could find out if it was him or his body double out in public. When he's giving a speech, when he's going to a reception, when he's seen exiting his vehicles or leaving a building, they would be able to find out if it was him or his body double.
This plaster-cast, enlarged model of Mao Zedong's left ear is part of the collection at the Cold War Museum located in Vint Hill, Virginia. Flanking both sides of the model are photographs of Mao Zedong at the ages of 43 and 56 for comparison. The museum's founder, historian Francis Gary Powers Jr., stated that Mao Zedong had at least one body double. The museum noted that this model of Mao Zedong's left ear uniquely combines imagery, intelligence, and historical value into one.
Before the advent of computerized digital facial recognition technology, such work had to be completed entirely by hand. This model was donated to the Cold War Museum by the family of former intelligence officer Dino Brugioni following his death.
Paris was given to a gentleman by the name of Dino Brugioni. Dino Brugioni was a leading photographic interpreter at NPIC, National Photographic Interpretive Center at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. He also worked with the CIA on multiple projects, primarily overhead reconnaissance imagery. He was the person who briefed President Kennedy during the Cuban
Beyond the model of Mao Zedong's ear, the Cold War Museum's founder also has a legendary story. He is the son of Francis Gary Powers, the pilot captured after his American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace in 1960. Prompted by research into his father's life and the Cold War era, Powers decided to establish the Cold War Museum and has published multiple books on the Cold War.
The museum holds a remarkably rich collection of Cold War-era artifacts, ranging from bricks of the Berlin Wall to military caps of Cuban commanders and a replica of a Voice of America microphone. Chinese subtitles: Jonathan Lee. Not only are the museum's exhibits focused on the Cold War era, but the two-story building of the museum itself and the surrounding Vint Hill area also served as a U.S. Army intelligence-gathering station during the Cold War.
The Cold War between 1945 and 1991 can be described as a struggle between communism and capitalism, as well as a confrontation between one-party dictatorship and pluralistic political ideology, primarily fought between the Soviet Union and the United States. Powers believes that the United States and China have now entered the Cold War 2.0 era, and he finds it worrying that American students are not educated on Cold War history.
This is all of concern to the American government. I also believe that this new Cold War 2.0 is taking place primarily in cyberspace with computers and technology trying to gain each other's secrets or cause disruptions in infrastructures. So this Cold War is a new iteration of what we did between 1945 and 1991.
Powers joked that the CIA might have ear models of other Chinese leaders. Washville also said that they have been looking for decoy models of Mao Zedong as well. VOA reporter Liu Enming reporting from Virginia.