Slumped in his chair, eyes glued to a daytime TV historical drama, Mao Tse-tung's grandson passed another afternoon in his private room at the No. 309 Military Hospital.
Slowed by obesity and diabetes, Mao Xinyu spent much of the run-up to Sunday's centenary of his famous grandfather's birth confined to the dingy, sparsely furnished room in southern Beijing.But that did not keep the only grandson to carry the Great Helmsman's family name out of the public eye.
With a wave of Mao nostalgia touched off by the approaching centenary, 23-year-old Mao Xinyu has been the subject of some glowing media attention.
He also has participated in a few of the recent events celebrating Mao Tse-tung, and was shown on national television Monday night at the unveiling of a huge statue of his grandfather. The elder Mao remains widely admired for unifying China after a century of foreign invasion and occupation, even though his policies of egalitarianism and violent class struggle have been discarded.
In a nation where claims to power often depend on family ties, could the younger Mao follow in his grandfather's footsteps?
None of Mao's relatives, including his three other known grandchildren, are now close to the center of power. Mao Xinyu lacks the charisma and the all-consuming political drive that fired his grandfather.
It therefore seems unlikely that the grandson with the stubbly chin could ever become a big city mayor or a provincial governor, positions in which he has expressed interest.
Not surprisingly, though, he is eager to wrap himself in the mantle of his grandfather, even specializing in "Mao Tse-tung Thought" at the Central Communist Party School where he is a graduate student.
"People say that I inherited a lot of your genes," he wrote a few weeks ago in a letter to his grandfather inspired by the season's first snow.
But Mao Xinyu is no Mao Tse-tung. The grandson hardly summons up the vision of the strong-willed grandfather who overcame near-impossible odds to win a civil war and found China's Communist government.
The stark contrast is most evident in the 227-pound young man's fear of his mother, Shao Hua.
The wife of Mao's second son ordered her son not to accept a media interview without her permission.
Eager not to disobey, Mao Xinyu refused to answer any questions when a reporter visited his hospital room unannounced.