Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader (62 page)

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Authors: Geremie Barme

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

BOOK: Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader
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Page 201
CultRev Relics
Zhou Jihou
By the mid 1980s, a small market for Mao-period memorabilia was developing. A taste for Cultural Revolution kitsch had been common among Sinologists and travelers to China from the early 1970s, and such
objets d'art
as clocks with Red Guards waving Red Books, Mao badges and Mao jackets were avidly collected.
1
Rare Cultural Revolution period stamps also attracted interest on the international market.
Mao badges, those ubiquitous relics of the Cultural Revolution, enjoyed a renewed popularity as a result of the Mao Cult. Private collectors, common in the past,
2
resurfaced to display massive caches of badges to the public. The more prominent of them had collections numbering in the thousands.
3
Of this group Zhou Jihou, a man from Guizhou with a passion for collecting Cultural Revolution memorabilia, wrote lovingly on the subject of Mao badges. In late 1991, his own collection stood at 19,000 badges, of which 10,350 were of different designs.
4
Zhou Jihou makes a case for regarding Mao badges as bona fide cultural relics, although numerous postCultural Revolution imitations have been manufactured. Due to abiding political strictures on the Mainland, however, Zhou passes over the Cultural Revolution period badges that may really be classed as relics if for no other reason than their relative rarity. These include Liu Shaoqi badges, badges with the image of Lin Biao (or Mao and Lin), Lin's calligraphy and the 1976 limited-issue "classic" produced by supporters of Jiang Qing: imitation-silver badges made in the shape of the Japanese rohdea (
wannianqing
).
5
The Penny Black of Mao badges, however, include those produced in Inner Mongolia in 1967 which feature Mao looking to the right, as opposed to the standard revolutionary gaze to the left. The error, once discovered, led to the badges being recalled. Similarly rare "black Mao badges" produced accidently by a Beijing factory in 1966 as a result of silver plating (the silver surface of the badge gradually turned black upon exposure to air) were also highly valued,

 

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as were multi-colored badges that resulted from failed experiments in Maobadge manufacture that utilized various unorthodox materials.
Overproduction of Mao badges was banned by Central order in June, 1969,
6
and only three factories in Beijing, Shaoshan and Shanghai respectively were allowed to continue their manufacture. By 1970, only limited quantities of the badges were being produced.
As the relics of an historical period, the value of Mao badges is by no means simply limited to their being craft objects. They are significant in that they embody the political, economic, and cultural values of the Cultural Revolution as a whole.
In Article 2 of the General Provisions of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics" adopted at the Twenty-fifth Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress on 19 November 1982, it stipulates that:
"The state shall place under its protection, within the boundaries of the People's Republic of China, the following cultural relics of historical, artistic or scientific value:
"1) sites of ancient culture, ancient tombs, ancient architectural structures, cave temples, and stone carvings that are of historical, artistic or scientific value;
"2) buildings, memorial sites, and memorial objects related to major historical events, revolutionary movements or famous people that are highly memorable or are of great significance for education or for the preservation of historical data;
"3) valuable works of art and handicraft articles dating from various historical periods;
"4) important revolutionary documents as well as manuscripts and ancient or old books and materials, etc., that are of historical, artistic or scientific value; and,
"5) typical material objects reflecting the social system, social production or the life of various nationalities in different historical periods."
7
According to the detailed rules governing the legal determination of cultural relics, and in light of China's particular national situation, as well as in consideration of the three standards for apprising the status of relics (that is, that they are of historical, cultural, and scientific value), Mao badges should be considered as relics. They are of historical, artistic, and scientific value; will not be produced again; and, they are typical material objects with a unique appearance and are a direct and concrete representation of an historical reality.
1. Mao badges are the product of the Cultural Revolution, a major his-

 

Page 203
torical event and political movement. They are directly related to the ideology of the time, as well as to the [ideological] superstructure and the everyday lives of the Chinese people. On top of this, they have a unique value in that they commemorate a great man, Mao Zedong. At the same time, they constitute an "historical document" and are a means for the study of contemporary Chinese history and the Cultural Revolution. They are a firsthand record of the various incidents that occurred at the time. Mao badges are also representative works of contemporary Chinese industrial design that were produced using modern scientific methods and materials. They are typical of the then level of industrial design which is reflected in their range, immense number, and high quality. Without doubt they have significant historical, artistic, and scientific value.
2. On 12 June 1969, Party Central issued a document, "Concerning Certain Questions Deserving Consideration in Propagating the Image of Chairman Mao," which clearly stipulated that: "No further Chairman Mao badges are to be produced without the express authorization of the Centre."
8
The circulation of this document marked the beginning of the end of the mass production of Mao badges.
In the "CPC Party Central Directive on Questions Related to Pursuing the Policy on `Cutting Back on Propagating Individuals'" of 30 July 1980, a further advance was made on this when it stated that: "Chairman Mao badges are to be recalled and recycled wherever possible so as to prevent the excessive waste of metal." Following this, a national-wide "cleaning out" and "handing over'' of Mao badges was carried out in cities, the countryside, government organizations, factories, mines, companies, and the army all in the name of wiping out the negative influence of "the personality cult" and "contemporary superstition."
9
Based on the writer's own observations and estimates made over a period of many years, this purge resulted in 90 percent of Mao badges being recycled, lost or destroyed, leaving a mere 10 percent of the original number in circulation. That is to say, of the 4.8 billion Mao Zedong badges produced in the first years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-70), fewer than 500 million are still extant.
History has proved that the forms of commemoration related to Chairman Mao common during the Cultural Revolution, including the production of Mao badges, put too great an emphasis on the historical role of one individual. This resulted not only in considerable waste, but inferred that great men make history, something that was in direct conflict with Chairman Mao's statement that "the people create history." It is for this reason that Mao badges will not be produced in the future (although some badges have recently been manufactured for the Mao centenary, but their nature and significance is quite different from those made in the past).

 

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3. Mao badges have a unique material quality. They are the concrete and physical embodiment of the political, economic, and cultural state, as well as of the social realities and spiritual mien of the people during the Cultural Revolution. They give people a physical senseboth visual and tactileof an historical phenomenon.
Mao badges circulated widely and in great numbers. They were highlycrafted products made from numerous different materials, the result of both traditional craftsmanship and modern industrial design. They melded sculpture, painting, calligraphy, and design to produce something elemental and representative in Eastern art: works strong in imagery. Most Mao badges carry a portrait of Chairman Mao in relief with an effulgent red sun in the background. But many others represent Mao at various stages in his life with images of revolutionary holy places
10
or maps of revolutionary significance in the background. They provide a true and powerful record of Comrade Mao's outstanding achievements in relation to the Chinese revolution, as well as depicting numerous major historical incidents. They are of great value for the study of Mao Zedong Thought, Party history, and the revolution. They can be used as visual aids in carrying out education concerning the traditions of the Chinese revolution and patriotic education.
Moreover, on the back of many badges details of the place and date of various incidents of historical significance that occurred during the Cultural Revolution can be found. "The past is the teacher of the future." These details can fill in lacunæ found in other documents, as well as play an educative role for the young.
In his essay "A CultRev Museum" Ba Jin
11
wrote: "I suggest that they build a Cultural Revolution Museum. I firmly believe it is something we should do, something for which every Chinese should take responsibility."
12
Further on he says: "None of us want to see another Cultural Revolution in China. Another disaster like that would signal the end of our nation. . . . It is extremely important that we build this Museum, for only in remembering the `past' can we be masters of the `future'."
Musées de France
published a translation of Ba Jin's essay and the International Museum Association (with headquarters in Paris it is sponsored by UNESCO with 120 member states, including China, and 8,000 members) sent him a telegram which said: The Cultural Revolution was a unique Chinese product, and only China can build a Cultural Revolution Museum. Such a museum is not only of the greatest importance for the people of China, it would also be extremely significant for non-Chinese. Few outsiders understand the Cultural Revolution, but could hope to gain an accurate picture of this disaster through just such a museum. . . . They also

 

Page 205
expressed a wish that the Chinese Museum Association would jointly fund the museum with them!
In the spring of 1988, following lengthy deliberations, a group of concerned individuals decided to establish a committee that would call for plans for the building of a Cultural Revolution Museum. They would first construct a museum on paper. The committee consisted of the original board of directors of the Shanghai Museum Society, [and the writer] Ye Yonglie was made committee secretary.
13
In this way plans for the museum would be collected and [because he resided in Shanghai] Ba Jin's advice could constantly be sought.
Shortly thereafter, the committee issued an announcement to the media calling for draft plans for the museum that resulted in an overwhelming public response. The committee received 29,872 letters in the space of 23 days, as well as 367 visitors and 574 telephone calls related to the announcement. Over 99 percent of the letters supported Ba Jin's motion and many added their own proposals: that a new field of "CultRev studies" be established; that there be a "CultRev Research Institute," a ''CultRev Research Association," a "CultRev Archive"; that a periodical be produced called
CultRev Researches,
and so on. . . .
Subsequently, Ye Yonglie was sent to Beijing to report back to his teacher, Comrade Zheng, a standing member of the Chinese Museum Association, on the progress of the proposal. [Ye told Zheng that:]
1. It was agreed that Ba Jin's essay "A CultRev Museum" summed up the aims and purposes of the museum;
2. Everyone who had submitted a plan felt that the museum should be in Beijing; and
3. There were conflicting opinions as to whether the museum should be red, black or white. Those in favour of red argued that during the Cultural Revolution people talked of turning the world into a "sea of red."
14
Others favoured black as a colour that represented the massive disaster of the period. Those who proposed white said it was to symbolize remembrance for those who died in the holocaust.
There were three proposals concerning the main entrance:
1. That a massive block of marble be set up engraved with Ba Jin's essay in gold;
2. That a stone bearing the inscription "16 May 1966-6 October 1976, an unprecedented holocaust in Chinese history";
3. That sixteen sculpted heads representing the sixteen ringleaders of the Lin Biao and Jiang Qing counterrevolutionary cliques be placed on a pillar of eternal shame. . . .
15
The plans called for three exhibition halls. The Cultural Revolution was

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