SHAOSHAN, China, 27 December 2003 — Despite efforts by the Communist Party to celebrate Friday’s 110th anniversary of Chairman Mao Zedong’s birth with reverence and awe, for many here in his hometown, it’s more about cashing in.

Restaurants bearing Mao’s name compete aggressively to serve visitors the sauteed fatty pork dish he loved. Mao lighters, snow domes and statues fly off the shelves of souvenir stands. And in another sign of China’s dramatic economic transformation, local entrepreneurs have even leased a local graveyard housing six of Mao’s relatives for its tourist potential.

“Mao didn’t do much for his hometown while he was alive,’’ said one local limousine driver. “But he sure made a big contribution in death.’’

Today’s milestone comes as China struggles to bridge the yawning gap between its socialist ideology and current market reality. The image of the Great Helmsman is still carefully managed by propagandists within the Chinese Communist Party wary of any criticism that might reflect poorly on Mao and, by extension, on the current leadership.

Sanctioned websites, school textbooks and the official media make little or no mention of controversial Mao policies like the Great Leap Forward that cost millions of Chinese lives. An exhibition of 110 photographs taken by 110 photographers for this 110th anniversary in Shaoshan, his hometown in Hunan province, treats the Cultural Revolution as if it didn’t exist.

Regardless, average Chinese continue to revere and respect the man widely credited with unifying China and ending decades of foreign subjugation. In parts of the countryside, people still claim to see his image in trees, shadows and the forest more than 27 years after his death. This mixed legacy — George Washington, Superman, Abraham Lincoln and Elvis wrapped into one — continues to hang over China like a heavy mist.

Laurence Brahm, owner of a Communist memorabilia restaurant and hotel in Beijing featuring chairs and limos that once belonged to the former leadership, says Mao has a spiritual hold on many Chinese people matched by only a few of the greatest emperors in the nation’s history.

Taxi drivers carry Mao medallions for safe driving. Over 4 million people a year pay tribute to his waxy body in Tiananmen Square.

A website offering virtual flowers in his memory boasts 200,000 hits a day.

The depth of feeling varies by generations, however. Most people over 40-including those left behind by the market economy who recall his era with nostalgia — maintain a strong connection.

“I’m very worried China is too concerned with money,’’ said Peng Zhengfu, 63, a farmer and party member in Shaoshan to pay homage to Mao. ‘’He gave us our world, our greatness. People would be much better off today if they still studied his words.’’

The 30-something generation, which is producing some of the more interesting artistic reinterpretations of Mao, also has a strong connection for a different reason, experts say. In many ways their personal lives directly mirrored China’s wrenching turnaround to capitalism.

Below them is the group the Communist Party is arguably most worried about. Chinese in their teens and early 20s certainly know who Mao is but often believe he’s got limited relevance to their lives.

“People my age or younger are more concerned with their future, jobs, trying to get more personal freedom,’’ said Zhu Li, a recent graduate of Peking University whose grandfather was on the Long March.

Given his near universal resonance, however, some believe state propagandists would have an unbelievably powerful way to reach the young if they allowed Mao imagery to change with the times, an idea still sacrilegious to party stalwarts.

‘’If they’d only let him be on T-shirts, his face different colors, wearing a ponytail, he’d be tremendously popular and his descendants would be rich,’’ said Hung Huang, publisher of the Chinese edition of Seventeen magazine.

Most of the state-sanctioned festivities this week take predictable forms as the party and local governments draw on Mao’s anniversary to strengthen their legitimacy and bolster his legacy. Included in the lineup are concerts, televised specials, newly minted stamps, books and a six-episode televised documentary.

In a tepid step to reach the new generation, however, the Communist Party has approved a Mao rap song. It’s only 30 seconds long, and the lyrics are based on Mao’s “Two Musts’’ theory. But there it is, to a pounding beat, his admonishment to the cadres that they must remain humble, prudent and persevere with ‘’plain living and hard struggle.’’

Mao’s lingering aura is particularly strong in his hometown of Shaoshan, where many ascribe almost mystical powers to him. Stories circulate about how flowers bloomed and the sun and moon rose together on his 100th birthday celebration in December 1993 and how the weather is always good on his anniversary.