Chairman Mao badges

Dentuck

These are Chinese nationalist medals dating from the period of the Cultural Revolution. Highlighted in red enamel and gold; the Chairman's portrait is depicted in gold-tone high relief, in a
military collar.

These pieces of Chinese political memorabilia are often remarkably detailed with triumphant rays
emanating from Mao's profile, finely crafted borders of intricate design work, miniature military
themes, etc. Interestingly, sometimes they bear Western-style dates.



I bought several in a collection a few years ago. Most had the feel of aluminum, plastic, or a similar
lightweight material, with a pin hook on the back for wearing on your tunic. You can also find them
in porcelain and other materials. These date from the period of China's "Cultural Revolution"
(mid-1960s), when such badges were worn publicly to show loyalty to the Communist Party. The
Cultural Revolution was a movement launched in 1966 to promote an ideological cleansing and a
return to the ideas of Mao Tse-tung. A militant organization of young Red Guards, with the support
of the Army, crushed revisionists who were hostile to the Communist Party. Mao finally ended the
movement in 1969 after months of localized power struggles. In later years, other Chinese regimes
harshly criticized the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.

Who was Mao Tse-tung? He was a founder of the Chinese Communist party in the early 1920s, an
organizer of peasant and industrial unions. He led the Kiangsi to Yenan march of the Red Army
(1934-1935), and expelled the Kuomintang forces from the mainland in 1949. From that year until
1958 Mao was the chairman of the People's Republic of China, and he ruled the country de facto as
the chairman of the Communist Party of China (from 1943 on).

Where does the "cultural" part of the revolution come in? Mao was not only a statesman and political
theorist, but a poet as well. His Quotations from Chairman Mao was the famous (or infamous)
"Little Red Book" that every Chinese Communist read religiously; it was carried about during the
Cultural Revolution as a deterrent from persecution.

It was Mao who, in 1972, hosted a visit by U.S. President Richard Nixon, hoping to loosen the
influence of the U.S.S.R. on China. He died not long after, in 1976.

xphobe

<< <i>Most had the feel of aluminum, plastic, or a similar lightweight material >>



You can find badges like this in all the little tourist stalls all around Tiananmen Square and up Wanfujing street. Obviously the ones they sell now are reproductions but since the originals are made from such cheap materials it's hard for me to tell the difference. Any pointers?

farthing

Nice pin-backs!

Robertchina

hahaha~!!!!
welcome to China!

Aethelred

But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow.