Description
Book SynopsisThe Mao badge was a political icon in the form of a pin that was widely distributed to create, sustain and inflate the Mao personality cult during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This study shows how the badges have taken on new meanings, far surpassing the intentions of their creators.
Trade ReviewThis interesting book belongs on the shelf of those of us interested in the material culture of the Cultural Revolution. * China Journal *
Strangely moving. . . . While [in China, Schrift] discovered a subculture of people who collected buttons bearing portraits of the Great Helmsman: thousands of varieties had been manufactured from the Cultural Revolution, when they served as one of the few permitted forms of personal adornment or aesthetic display. . . . I found reading the book a surprisingly emotional experience. * Newsday; Newsday Long Island *
A wonderfully rich and riveting account,
Biography of a Chairman Mao Badge represents an important contribution to our understanding of the Cultural Revolution and its place in Chinese culture. Schrift provides an informative examination of the Mao cultÆs recent transformation into its present form of pop cultural campiness. -- William Jankowiak * author of Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City *
An excellent study of symbolism and factionalism in Maoist China. Schrift shows how mundane objects were transformed into sacred icons of revolutionary ideology. This book offers new insights into the dynamics of the Cultural Revolution. -- J. L. Watson * author of Golden Arches East: McDonaldÆs in East Asia *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Mao Consumption and the Chinese Political Imaginary
Badges in Context: The Early Years of the Cultural Revolution
Manufacturing Mao
An Iconography of Mao Badges
Bloodlines, Political Capital, and Badges
Aluminum Gods: Mao Badges and Chinese Ritual Life
The Red Old Days: Heritage, Historical Memory, and the Endurance of Mao
References
Index
