Created 13-Feb-09
Modified 26-Aug-09
The late 1960s saw many political campaigns all over the country. This small series of images depicts the campaigns as they were underway in Xuzhou 徐州, a large town in northwest Jiangsu province. From what I heard, Xuzhou was a rather embattled site during the era of the CR, with two deeply divided factions dictating proceedings.
These photographs are relevant in a number of ways:
1. They show the public's (forced or unforced) involvement in various mass rallies.
2. They provide details about the closing of a Christian church. Xuzhou in the 50s and until the church's closing was in fact the dioceses of one of China's more active bishops (by the name of Qian Yurong).
3. The last photograph establishes an intriguing relationship between Mao and his followers, wherein the followers appear to worship the Chairman as a demi-god and healer of ills. This is a rather unique image which I have not seen before.
Scanned on an Epson 4990 at 300 DPI to TIF, converted to lossless JPG and processed for b/w rendition.
Note: This series is not from the same Xinhua stock as the other galleries under the same heading.
Thomas H. Hahn
Ithaca, NY
© Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images
