Recent torrential rain has severely damaged two rooms in the former residence of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province in northwest China.

The ceilings of both rooms which house an exhibition of photos of Mao in Yan'an, the cradle of Red China, collapsed as a result of the heavy rain, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

The local authority has taken urgent action to repair the damage, the report said.

Mao spent the late 1930s and early 1940s in Yan'an, where he commanded China's war against the Japanese invasion and the war against the Kuomintang forces.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2002)