Li Zhensheng: Red Color News Soldier Exhibition
(160 photos)

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  • Military hospital patients make their morning pledge of loyalty before Mao Zedong's picture; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, September 5, 1968
  • Li Zhensheng dries his own prints in the photography department of the Heilongjiang Daily; photograph by Wan Jiyao; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, September 15, 1968
  • Schoolgirls in Red Guard Stadium during the National Day celebration; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, October 1, 1968
  • Marchers on National Day carry a sculpture of Mao on a float adorned with sunflowers, symbolizing the Chinese people following Chairman Mao the way flowers follow the sun; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, October 1, 1968
  • Page One of the Heilongjiang Daily, October 5, 1968: The caption under the picture reads: "Great Leader Chairman Mao and his close comrade-in-arm Lin Biao reviewing the National Day parade at Tiananmen Gate." The headline: "The latest instruction of Chairman Mao" followed by the text in the box below: "Cadres must go to the countryside to work. This is a very good opportunity for reeducation. All except those who are old or sick should go. Cadres who occupy official positions should also go to the countryside in separate groups."
  • A Mao Zedong Thought propaganda team spreads Mao's instruction at the Harbin University of Industry; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, October 6, 1968
  • Reading to Red Guard villagers "A letter to peasants from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party" published in the Heilongjiang Daily; Shangzhi County, Heilongjiang Province, October 11, 1968
  • Returning from its appearance at the National Day celebration in Beijing, Heilongjiang's Revolutionary Committee delegation is greeted at Harbin's railway station with gifts of wax mangos, emulating the seven real mangos given to Mao by an official delegation from Pakistan the previous August. Mao later presented these mangos to seven worker-peasant propaganda teams responsible for quelling the factional fighting of the Red Guards. The bestowal of mangos came to symbolize Mao's trust in the workers after the dissolution of the Red Guards, and consequently wax likenesses were created for use during elaborate ceremonies of welcome, at which time workers would form a line to pay respect to the fruits; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, October 14, 1968.
  • Ouyang Xiang, son of the former first secretary of Heilongjiang's provincial Party committee, is dragged outside the North Plaza Hotel and persecuted for sending an unsigned letter to the provincial revolutionary committee defending his denounced father. Three days later he was pushed out of a third-story window of the office building where he was being held. The official report called his death a suicide. Harbin, 30 November 1968
  • Ouyang Xiang, son of the former first secretary of Heilongjiang's provincial Party committee, is dragged outside the North Plaza Hotel and persecuted for sending an unsigned letter to the provincial revolutionary committee defending his denounced father. Three days later he was pushed out of a third-story window of the office building where he was being held. The official report called his death a suicide. Harbin, 30 November 1968
  • Ouyang Xiang, son of the former first secretary of Heilongjiang's provincial Party committee, is dragged outside the North Plaza Hotel and persecuted for sending an unsigned letter to the provincial revolutionary committee defending his denounced father. Three days later he was pushed out of a third-story window of the office building where he was being held. The official report called his death a suicide. Harbin, 30 November 1968
  • Ouyang Xiang, son of the former first secretary of Heilongjiang?s provincial Party committee, is dragged outside the North Plaza Hotel and persecuted for sending an unsigned letter to the provincial revolutionary committee defending his denounced father. Three days later he was pushed out of a third-story window of the office building where he was being held. The official report called his death a suicide. Harbin, 30 November 1968
  • Ouyang Xiang, son of the former first secretary of Heilongjiang's provincial Party committee, is dragged outside the North Plaza Hotel and persecuted for sending an unsigned letter to the provincial revolutionary committee defending his denounced father. Three days later he was pushed out of a third-story window of the office building where he was being held. The official report called his death a suicide. Harbin, 30 November 1968
  • Self-portrait Li Zhensheng reads Mao's works while on assignment for the Heilongjiang Daily at Lalin Air Force base in Wuchang County; photographed with a self-timer; Heilongjiang Province, July 5, 1969
  • Pilots from the People Liberation Army (PLA) read Mao's quotations before taking off for a flight training mission; Lalin Air Force Base; Wuchang County, Heilongjiang Province, July 19, 1969
  • Pilots from the People Liberation Army (PLA) read Mao's quotations before taking off for a flight training mission; Lalin Air Force Base; Wuchang County, Heilongjiang Province, July 19, 1969
  • During her "reeducation," a dancer from the Heilongjiang Province Song and Dance Company learns Mao Zedong's works with an elderly peasant woman; Xinsheng Commune, Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province. November 4, 1969. The original picture was retouched prior to publication in order to show an unobstructed and sharply focused portrait of Mao on a clean-up background.
  • During her "reeducation," a dancer from the Heilongjiang Province Song and Dance Company learns Mao Zedong's works with an elderly peasant woman; Xinsheng Commune, Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province. November 4, 1969. The original picture was retouched prior to publication in order to show an unobstructed and sharply focused portrait of Mao on a clean-up background.
  • One of the central tenets of the May 7th Cadre School program was that manual labor was an effective means of erasing elitism and reinstalling socialist values. Here, May 7th "soldiers" thresh grain in the northern part of Heilongjiang; Xinsheng commune, Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province, November 4, 1969
  • One of the central tenets of the May 7th Cadre School program was that manual labor was an effective means of erasing elitism and reinstalling socialist values. Here, May 7th "soldiers" thresh grain in the northern part of Heilongjiang; Xinsheng commune, Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province, November 4, 1969
  • One of the central tenets of the May 7th Cadre School program was that manual labor was an effective means of erasing elitism and reinstalling socialist values. Here, May 7th "soldiers" thresh grain in the northern part of Heilongjiang; Xinsheng commune, Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province, November 4, 1969
  • After being denounced, on September 6, 1969 Li Zhensheng was "sent down" to the Liuhe May 7th Cadre School for reeducation where he would spend two years at hard labor. Though cameras were strictly prohibited, he managed to make a few self-portraits and landscapes. Here, he photographs himself in the woods using a self-timer; Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province, February 15, 1970
  • Members of the May 7th Cadre School pose for a group picture in front of a house they just built; Li Zhensheng (second row, fifth from left) is in the picture he took using a self-timer; Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province, December 18, 1970
  • During his stay at the Liuhe May 7th Cadre School, Li Zhensheng photographed, as a metaphor, grass piercing the snow to say: "If winter is there, springtime can only be round the corner"; Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province, January 7, 1971.
  • During his re-education at the Liuhe May 7th Cadre School, Li Zhensheng photographed trees in the snow "out of admiration for nature's vitality"; Qing?an County, Heilongjiang Province, December 25, 1970
  • During an official visit to Harbin, Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who chose to live in China after being deposed in the March 1970 military coup, is welcomed by large crowds on Dazhi Avenue. This was Li Zhensheng's first assignment for the Heilongjiang Daily since his return from re-education. Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, May 23, 1972
  • Chinese-Soviet relations were especially volatile in 1969 and the early 1970s. Skirmishes along the border were common, leading to armed militia patrols along the Wusuli River near the border of the Soviet Union, at the northeastern tip of China; near Rahoe, Heilongjiang Province, September 23, 1972.
  • Li Zhensheng with wife Zhu Yingxia, their son Xiaohan and daughter Xiaobing in their new home in the provincial capital; photographed by Li using a self-timer; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, September 28, 1972
  • Young pioneers in the auditorium of the North Plaza Hotel welcome representatives at "Heilongjiang's Conference of Socialism's Advanced Work Groups and Model Workers Assembly"; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, March 8, 1973
  • Page One of the Heilongjiang Daily, March 9, 1973: With a quotation by Mao Zedong at the top, the entire front page of the newspaper is devoted to the "Conference of Socialism's Advanced Work Groups and Model Workers Assembly" and states: "Criticizing revisionism and rectification are the key means of expediting the socialist revolution and the constructions of socialism." The panoramic image is made from three sequential photographs by Li Zhensheng.
  • "Iron Woman" Guo Fenglian, the national model worker and Party branch secretary of Dazhai Commune, Shanxi Province, visits an air raid shelter project at Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, March 17, 1973
  • In Inner Mongolia, a "barefoot doctor" - one of a million paramedics employed in the leftist's answer to Western-style medicine - visits patients in Hulunbeir League, Inner Mongolia, which was under the control of Heilongjiang Province during the Cultural Revolution; September 30, 1973
  • Attendants on a train traveling from Qiqihar to Beijing organize passengers to participate in the "anti-Lin Biao, anti-Confucius" campaign initiated by Mao's wife, Jiang Qing; Heilongjiang Province, March 15, 1974.
  • In the mid-1970s, China set about redressing the economic ruin wrought by the decade of social unrest. Here, workers in the Harbin Shoe Factory discuss the development of new styles of shoes to meet market needs; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. November 19, 1974
  • During winter, educated youth and local peasants break the frozen ground with pick axes on an irrigation project in a rural area; Chaoyang Commune, Shuangcheng County, Heilongjiang Province, December 17, 1974.
  • During winter, educated female youth and local peasants pull wheelbarrows on an irrigation project on Chaoyang Commune; Shuangcheng County, Heilongjiang Province, December 17, 1974
  • "Educated youth" and local peasants collaborate to till and irrigate the frozen land in preparation of the season's planting. Chaoyang commune, Shuangcheng county, 17 December 1974
  • "Educated youth" and local peasants collaborate to till and irrigate the frozen land in preparation of the season's planting. Chaoyang commune, Shuangcheng county, 17 December 1974
  • "Educated youth" and local peasants collaborate to till and irrigate the frozen land in preparation of the season's planting. Chaoyang commune, Shuangcheng county, 17 December 1974
  • A pregnant woman carries frozen clod at the site of a water conservation project; Handian Commune, Shuangcheng County, Heilongjiang Province, December 18, 1974
  • Vintage montage picture was published in the Heilongjiang Daily in December 1974 as part of a photo essay devoted to an irrigation project in Shuangcheng County. The site was officially inspected by Liu Guangtao (center, with star on hat), first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee, and his deputy Yang Yichen (to his left). Li Zhensheng was not able to include in a single frame the two dignitaries greeting local Party leaders. The editors asked him to make one image from two prints by cutting and pasting them together. Moving scissors around and additional retouching made the scene seem more "real" and upbeat.
  • Part one of two picture montage was published in the Heilongjiang Daily in December 1974 as part of a photo essay devoted to an irrigation project in Shuangcheng County. The site was officially inspected by Liu Guangtao (center, with star on hat), first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee, and his deputy Yang Yichen (to his left). Li Zhensheng was not able to include in a single frame the two dignitaries greeting local Party leaders. The editors asked him to make one image from two prints by cutting and pasting them together. Moving scissors around and additional retouching made the scene seem more "real" and upbeat.
  • Part two of two picture montage picture was published in the Heilongjiang Daily in December 1974 as part of a photo essay devoted to an irrigation project in Shuangcheng County. The site was officially inspected by Liu Guangtao (center, with star on hat), first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and director of the Provincial Revolutionary Committee, and his deputy Yang Yichen (to his left). Li Zhensheng was not able to include in a single frame the two dignitaries greeting local Party leaders. The editors asked him to make one image from two prints by cutting and pasting them together. Moving scissors around and additional retouching made the scene seem more "real" and upbeat.
  • The muddy fields where predominantly female educated youth and local peasants use sandy soil to ameliorate saline land and prepare for harvesting; Xiqin Commune, Shuangcheng County, Heilongjiang Province, December 19, 1974
  • A dancer flies in mid-air during a performance for peasants and workers of "The Red Women Troop" one of the eight "model operas" that were chosen by Mao's wife Jiang Qing. Each opera was intended as a lesson in the evils of the "old society" contrasted with the new "realm of red virtue." Daqing oil field; Heilongjiang Province, July 20, 1975
  • Li Zhensheng (in the background) photographs the "revolutionary opera," "Ode to Yimeng Mountain," performed by the Central Ballet Troupe from Beijing. His presence on the stage during a performance of "The White-Haired Girl" later that day elicited harsh criticism from Mao's wife, Jiang Qing; photograph by Wang Hongben; Acheng County, Heilongjiang Province, July 23, 1975
  • A woman of the Korean minority jumping on a seesaw during the annual sports contest of Shangzhi County; Hedong Commune , Heilongjiang Province, September 1, 1975
  • An all-female militia squad patrols the snow-covered Hufeng forestry center 75 miles southeast of Harbin; Shangzhi County, Heilongjiang Province, February 16, 1976.
  • Making of an "official" group picture by a local studio photographer, using an 8x10 camera, of the "educated youth" of the "Youth Shock Brigade" at the site of a water conservancy project; Yinlonghe farm, Bei'an County, Heilongjiang Province, June 25, 1976
  • People's Liberation Army soldiers shout "Down with Deng Xiaoping" and carry a banner that reads: "Denounce with indignation the crimes of Deng Xiaoping" at the renamed People's Stadium; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, April 9, 1976
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