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The Red Book and the Power Structure of Communist China

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The Red Book and the Power Structure of Communist China
The Red Book and the Power Structure of Communist China

Propaganda in China during the Cultural Revolution took on many forms; there were mass Red Guard demonstrations in Tianamen Square in support of Mao
Zedong, pictures of Mao were put up in every conceivable location from restaurants to the wallpaper in nurseries, and pamphlets and books of Mao 's teachings were distributed to every Chinese citizen. One of these propaganda publications Quotations from Chairman Mao which later became known as the Little
Red Book contained quotes from Mao Zedong and was distributed to every Chinese citizen. The history of the Red Book provides one of the best ways in which to analyze Chinese propaganda during the Cultural Revolution and see the ways in which the Chinese government was able to produce and effectively indoctrinate the Chinese people with Mao Zedong Thought. Official Chinese magazines from the period of 1967 to 1970 are filled with many pictures of citizens holding, reading, and memorizing the Red Book. This proposal will trace the rise and fall of images of the Red Book in the official Chinese publication China
Reconstructs. This proposal will use a graphical analysis of pictures in this publication from 1966 to 1973 to show that propaganda was not just a tool of the
Communist party but also a reflection of internal power struggles within the party during the Cultural Revolution. The Red Book was written several years before it became the object of national adoration and a tool for the Cultivation of Mao 's personality Cult. The history of the Red Book and its meteoric rise from a hand book for military recruits to compulsory reading for all Chinese citizens, is closely tied to its developer Lin Biao 's rise to power. Lin Biao was born in 1907 and was fourteen years younger then Mao; he joined the communist party in 1925 and until the communists captured control of China was at various times in charge of resistance forces, and armies of communist



References: Dutt, Gargi and Dutt, V.P. (1970) China 's Cultural Revolution. India: National Printing Works. Kraus, Richard (1991). Brushes With Power: Modern Politics and the Chinese Art of Calligraphy Kua, Michael (1975). The Lin Piao Affair. New York: International Arts and Sciences Press. Ming-Le, Yao (1983). The Conspiracy and Murder of Mao 's Heir. London: Collins. Rodzinski, Witold. (1988). The People 's Republic of China: A Concise Political History Tsou, Tang. (1986). The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Reforms. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Yan, Jiaqi and Gao, Gao. (1996). The Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution

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