Greatly support agriculture

Artist: Shenyang City East Red Agricultural Machinery Factory Workers' Union Supplies

Year: 1970

Publisher: Shenyang City Revolutionary Committee Cultural Department

Size (mm): 534x776

Condition: Excellent, light creasing, small tears to margins

First published in 1964 for use by the People's Liberation Army, the Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung or Little Red Book as it became known in the West, was an anthology of selected quotations pulled from Mao's various speeches and writings. Originally containing 200 quotes, after various revisions the book was expanded to finally number 427 quotes addressing 33 topics. By 1965 demand for the book had grown to enormous levels, and during the Cultural Revolution it became an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own it, read it and carry a copy at all times. It was translated into various different languages, with the most common edition produced with a distinctive red vinyl cover (see image left). Distribution is likely to have been numbered in the billions. 
Large crowds ecstatically waving their copies of the Quotations were a common sight at the time and have been captured in many photographs, newsreels and posters. In this poster the farmer holds high his Little Red Book as he drives his tractor through fields of crops that extend to the horizon. In the far distance, green terraced fields and a modern industrial complex can be glimpsed to the sides. The worker wears overalls bearing the slogan zhua geming cu shengchan (grasp the revolution and promote production).