As promised, the document with many Web resources you can use for our study of the Chinese Cultural Revolution is at the bottom of this post. Don’t forget: “Study and advance every day!” (Mao Zedong)

Also, here are pictures of three artifacts I acquired at the Asia Museum while I was in New York over winter break. I was fortunate enough to catch the tail end of an exhibit of of art from the period of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. There were nearly a hundred paintings, drawings and da-zi-bao posters from this era, as well as several figures from the famous “Rent Collection Courtyard” bronzes. It was astonishing to see the original versions of works of art that up until now I had seen only in books and other secondary sources. And walking among those life-size bronze figures was spooky!

In the gift shop, I bought a copy of Mao’s “Little Red Book” (my college-era copy having long ago disappeared), as well as an alarm clock and a cigarette tin, both painted bright red and emblazoned with Mao’s portrait. I can’t verify that these last two are faithful reproductions of items that were available during the Cultural Revolution, but Ji-li Jiang, author of The Red Scarf Girl and our recent guest, told me that she remembers very similar alarm clocks. I will try to find the answer to this mystery.

Chinese Cultural Revolution Web Resources