He was the ultimate fighter in Mao's army, literally the poster boy of the Communist Party. Now a soldier, dead for over 40 years, has been resurrected yet again to help China's Communist Party battle it's latest enemy, video games.
Lei Feng was the model soldier in life. His only aspiration was to be "a revolutionary screw that never rusts." In the army he was known for doing whatever he could for his comrades: serving tea, darning socks, even rubbing their feet.
Now he's doing it all over again in "Learning from Comrade Lei Feng," a new video game developed to teach kids what it means to be happily suppressed.
"For beginners, sewing and mending socks is the only way to increase experience and upgrade," said Jiao Jian, a young pupil and online game fan from the southern city of Guangzhou.
As players advance, by helping on construction sites, talking to party leaders ... all sorts of mundane crap. The ultimate goal is a copy of the Chairman's collected works.
The hope is to steer kids away from the sex and violence so prevalent in today's video games.
Lei was born in Hunan on December 18 1940. The Japanese killed his father, his mother committed suicide to escape the advances of their landlord.
The orphaned Lei was soon adopted by the Party, who raised him as their own. As he grew he studied Mao's' teachings very closely and modeled his life on the man's lessons. He was frugal and selfless, forever putting the Party above himself.
After his tragic death at the age of 22, his likeness started appearing on posters all across the land, and his diary, filled with his own life lessons, became wildly popular.
Since his death March 5, has been known as "Learn from Lei Feng Day," when people all chip in to do good in the community, just like the legend himself.
The last time the Party trotted him out was after the Tiananmen Square uprising. You can imagine what a morale boost that was.
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