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The Americans have a saying: George Washington slept here. Now, imagine if every place where Washington ever slept were turned into a museum and honored with a grand public memorial ceremony on his birthday, death anniversary, Memorial Day and - what the heck - throw in Halloween, too. All with taxpayers' money. Something like that is happening in China. And remember, China has a much longer recorded history, which means examples of the above-mentioned phenomenon are sprouting like the proverbial "bamboo shoots after a spring rain". When I visited Henan province, they told me they had recently held a mammoth ritual to pay homage to Huangdi. Scholars say he was born within that administrative division of today's China. However, he was buried in what is now Shaanxi province - an opportunity for a rival ceremony. Actually, he may have left as many traces as George Washington. So, the competition to sing his praise has become fierce as local governments fight for a piece of the intangible but meaty asset of being known as a place associated with a very distant - even mythological - celebrity. Together with Yandi, Huangdi has been heralded as the archetypal ancestor of the Chinese people, a progenitor of China's 5,000-year-old civilization. In other words, Huangdi is someone who deserves such tributes. But not the minor celebrities. For example, a city in Henan is celebrating the 2,725th anniversary of Liu Xiahui, who is known for keeping his cool while a beautiful girl sat on his lap. | 
