Propaganda-Era Issues of Chinese Literature, Cultural Revolution Period (1971)
Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1971. Original Printings. A group of four issues of Chinese Literature, nos. 1, 2, 7, and 12 (1971), octavo format (each approx. 26 × 18 cm), staple-bound in printed color wrappers featuring heroic socialist imagery of workers, soldiers, and Chairman Mao. Published by Foreign Languages Press, Peking. Approximately 100–120 pages per issue, with bilingual text in English and Chinese, numerous illustrations, and color plates. Moderate age-toning, small stains and edge wear; very good, bright and complete examples of this visually arresting periodical.
Issued during the height of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Literature was the chief English-language vehicle through which the People’s Republic of China projected its revolutionary ideals to the world. Distributed abroad by the Foreign Languages Press, it combined translated fiction, poetry, and essays with ideological commentary, reproducing the fervent visual culture of Maoist China.
The magazine served not only as a cultural export but also as an ideological bridge, shaping global perceptions of Chinese socialism at a moment when Western audiences were newly attentive to Maoist thought. The English translations are careful and declarative, crafted to instruct as much as to inspire. Today, these journals stand as powerful documents of revolutionary aesthetics—an intersection of propaganda, literature, and international diplomacy in print.
Lot 9. Very Good. Item #375
Sold