Home»Images from the Cultural Revolution 文化大革命图片库档

These galleries with photographs cover various aspects of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 文化大革命 in China (generally dated 1966-1976). Much has been written about this traumatic segment of China's recent past, but - with the exception of the legacies of Li Zhensheng and Weng Naiqiang - the subject (for very complex and difficult reasons) is not well covered visually. For example, in An Anthology of Chinese Photography 1957-2000 (1957-2000 中国摄影作品精选), the ten years between 1964 and 1974 are not represented at all, and the years 1974 to 1979 display mostly Mao and Model Operas (yangbanxi 样板戏).
With the exception of Chang Song's striking images, the galleries offered here reflect parts of my own holdings on the subject. There are at present 13 galleries, with the following content:
1. The anti-Kong anti-Lin campaign in Qufu 批孔批林运动 - 决不充许开历史倒车 (28 photographs, April 1974)
2. Sports and physical education 发展体育运动 - 增强人民体质 (20 photographs, November 1971)
3. The nation-wide educational campaign in the mechanical and life sciences 教育战线生气勃勃 (23 photographs, April 1974)
4. China's navy and archaeology on the Xisha Islands 西沙群岛 (21 photographs, approx. early 1974)
5. China's heavy industry in the early 1970s (18 photographs, no annotations available)
6. Drills and practices of the Peoples Liberation Army PLA in the early 1970s (14 photographs, no annotations available)
7. Ping Pong Politics 乒乓外交, i.e., Chinese Foreign Relations marked by invitations to international Ping Pong tournaments (31 photographs)
8. Land reclamation and development measures 广阔天地 (20 photographs, 1969 - 1972)
9. Campaigns in Xuzhou 徐州 (Jiangsu province); 16 photographs, datable to the late 1960s.
10. A small selection of Chang Song's work covering the campaigns of the late 1960s.
11. In agriculture, learn from Dazhai 农业学大寨 (12 photographs, dated 1969)
12. People's Communes 人民公社; 1973 (27 photographs, 1-3 and 21 missing)
13. United embracing the struggle of the revolution; 1973/12 (20 photographs, #19 missing)