Read Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader Online

Authors: Geremie Barme

Tags: #History, #Asia, #China, #Literary Criticism, #Asian, #Chinese, #Political Science, #Political Ideologies, #Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism, #World, #General, #test

Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader (36 page)

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Page 96

Figure 28.
Three Mao T-shirts. The legends on the shirts read (from left to right):
"I love reading Chairman Mao's works"; "Sun in our hearts"; "Dad
and mom might be dear to me but no one is as dear as Chairman Mao."
These shirts were purchased by the author in Beijing,
Shanghai, and Changsha, 1992-1993.

Figure 29.
Mao T-shirt: The Chairman in a halo of hearts.

Page 97

Figure 30a.
Image from the calendar "Remember Mao Zedong and Be Grateful to Deng
Xiaoping 1994-1995," designed by Wang Wangwang, captions by
the literary critic Sun Jin. Produced in Shenzhen, 1993.
January-February, 1994: "For truly great men/ Look to this age
alone." These words from Mao's poem "Snow" are reproduced below
the image of Mao on a sun-baked landscape with a commentary
by Sun Jin that reads: "This arid yellow earth has nurtured 5,000 years
of culture. Countless heroes have come this way, leaving in their wake
evidence of very different aspirations. Because the Great Man succored
by this land had his feet firmly planted on the ground he could travel
forth without hindrance. His achievements are
reflected in all things, for he created a new nation."

Page 98

Figure 30b.
Image from "Remember Mao Zedong and Be Grateful to Deng
Xiaoping 1994-1995." May-June, 1994: This picture is inscribed with a
line from Mao's 1929 poem "The Warlords Clash" that reads: "Showering
misery through the land." The collage features Chiang Kai-shek, Jiang
Qing and Lin Biao, authors of some of China's greatest miseries. Sun Jin's
commentary, which opens with a play on a famous PLA slogan, reads: "It is I
who has been violated. If none violate me I will still respond. If it is all but
word games then how should we understand the term humanity? All
surfaces are equally illuminated by the sun; page after page is turned.
When history invades everyday life, perspective transforms some
people into part of the mottled wallpaper of existence."

Page 99

Figure 30c.
Image from "Remember Mao Zedong and Be Grateful to Deng Xiaoping
1994-1995." November-December, 1994: "Today the autumn wind still
sighs, But the world has changed!" These lines come from Mao's 1954 poem
"Beidaihe." Sun Jin's commentary, referring to two famous photographs
of Mao (one with children sporting red bandanas, the other of him in a
crowd of smiling visitors from the Third World) on which this collage is
based, reads: "A youth tied a red bandana around his neck; people of
different races smiled in his presence. He, however, deeply questioned all of this:
`How many of them are true believers?' He was no different from anyone
else; he didn't enjoy seeing the masses all wearing the same expression."

Page 100

Figure 31.
Matchbox covers with Mao quotes, reprints of Cultural Revolution originals.

Figure 32.
"Eternal Effulgence." Painting by the Hangzhou artist
Geng Jianyi. The portrait of Mao-as-the-sun has
been replaced by a picture of China's other national
symbol, the panda bear. (Courtesy of Li Xianting)

Page 101

Figure 33.
Santa Mao: A 1994 Christmas card by the Beijing artist Zhu Wei designed
for his Hong Kong dealer. (Courtesy Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon)

Page 102

Figure 34.
"Chart of Acupuncture Points and Meridians":
the Physiology of a Revolutionary.
Painting by Zhang Hongtu.

Page 103

Figure 35.
Baby Mao: sequined T-shirt by Vivienne Tam. Based on a painting by
Zhang Hongtu which was in turn inspired by the Mao quote: "The masses
are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant."
(Courtesy of Vivienne Tam)