Li Zhensheng: Red-Color News Soldier Book
(307 photos)

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  • In a middle-school meeting room, new members of the Communist Party take the oath in front of a bust of Mao and the hammer and sickle of the communist flag. Acheng, Acheng county, 1 July 1965
  • In a middle-school meeting room, new members of the Communist Party take the oath in front of a bust of Mao and the hammer and sickle of the communist flag. Acheng, Acheng county, 1 July 1965
  • "Model" citizens chosen to set an example for others included Wang Shuangyin, composer of the famous revolutionary song "Rely on the Helmsman While Sailing the Seas." Acheng county, 30 June 1965
  • "Model" citizens chosen to set an example for others included the revolutionary hero Song Ranhao, who lost an arm in the Korean War, here showing off his skills and faithful study of Mao's writings despite his injury. Acheng county, 2 July 1965
  • "Model" citizens chosen to set an example for others included the revolutionary hero Song Ranhao, who lost an arm in the Korean War, here showing off his skills and faithful study of Mao's writings despite his injury. Acheng county, 2 July 1965
  • "Model" citizens chosen to set an example for others included the revolutionary hero Song Ranhao, who lost an arm in the Korean War, here showing off his skills and faithful study of Mao's writings despite his injury. Acheng county, 2 July 1965
  • At the end of a one-day conference, the newly elected leaders of the country's Poor and Lower Middle Peasants Association gather on the stage of the local theater. Banners encourage the attendees to "lean from Da Zhai [a model production brigade]. To emulate Heilongjiang's model commune Tai Ping, and to work hard." Acheng, Acheng county, 12 July 1965
  • At the end of a one-day conference, the newly elected leaders of the country's Poor and Lower Middle Peasants Association gather on the stage of the local theater. Banners encourage the attendees to "lean from Da Zhai [a model production brigade]. To emulate Heilongjiang's model commune Tai Ping, and to work hard." Acheng, Acheng county, 12 July 1965
  • In the auditorium of the provincial capital's North Plaza Hotel, dancers from the Heilongjiang Song and Dance Company perform Militia Women, a piece about women training to join the fight against reactionaries and imperialists. Harbin, Heilongjiang province, 25 April 1966
  • Front page of the Heilongjiang Daily, 29 August 1966. The vertical headline lists the "three greats": "Long life to Chairman Mao, Great Leader, Great Commander in Chief, Great Helmsman." The photo caption from the Xinhua news agency reads, "Our great revolutionary teacher Chairman Mao concerns himself with national and international affairs day and night."
  • This image of the St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church under assault by Harbin's Red Guards in the summer of 1966 was created by Li using two overlapping photographs to give the full vertical view (see original photographs on p. 94)..
  • Masses gathered in front of the Jile Temple cheer as Red Guards from the Harbin Military Institute force self-criticism on the monks after vandalizing their sanctuary. Harbin, 24 August 1966 (Vintage Montage)
  • Li cropped and retouched this photograph of a rally in Harbin at the request of his editors at the Heilongjiang Daily. In the original, marchers' fists seem to strike Mao's portrait; Mao's picture is in a black frame - which implies that his is dead; and the sign bearing Mao's quotation is partially obstructed by a waving flag. Li removed the fists and black frame, and redesigned the hidden characters of the quotation.
  • Li in his office at the Heilongjiang Daily in Harbin impersonates a mythical movie hero confronting his enemy and ready to fight (photographed with a self-timer). 15 June 1966
  • The Heilongjiang Daily's 22 August 1966 edition features articles praising socialism's new era and Mao Zedong Thought, and, on the back of the page, a pictorial essay on Harbin's summer festival. Red Guards noticed that, if one held the page against the light, a spear-like flagpole on the top picture of the summer festival article on the reverse side appears to piece Mao's head. They accused the editors and the photography team, including Li, of having deliberately designed the pages in a counterrevolutionary way and of purposely insulting Chairman Mao. A formal investigation found them guilty of "revolutionary sloppiness."
  • The Heilongjiang Daily's 22 August 1966 edition features articles praising socialism's new era and Mao Zedong Thought, and, on the back of the page, a pictorial essay on Harbin's summer festival. Red Guards noticed that, if one held the page against the light, a spear-like flagpole on the top picture of the summer festival article on the reverse side appears to piece Mao's head. They accused the editors and the photography team, including Li, of having deliberately designed the pages in a counterrevolutionary way and of purposely insulting Chairman Mao. A formal investigation found them guilty of "revolutionary sloppiness."
  • The Heilongjiang Daily's 22 August 1966 edition features articles praising socialism's new era and Mao Zedong Thought, and, on the back of the page, a pictorial essay on Harbin's summer festival. Red Guards noticed that, if one held the page against the light, a spear-like flagpole on the top picture of the summer festival article on the reverse side appears to piece Mao's head. They accused the editors and the photography team, including Li, of having deliberately designed the pages in a counterrevolutionary way and of purposely insulting Chairman Mao. A formal investigation found them guilty of "revolutionary sloppiness."
  • Li checks his camera equipment in his office at the Heilongjiang Daily (photographed with a self-timer). The sign on the door reads, "Read Chairman Mao's books and follow his instruction." 27 May 1966
  • Li (second from the left) with eight former classmates from the Changchun Film School, during an outing in Beijing in a confiscated American-made Ford Mercury formerly used by Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Chen Yi and temporarily on loan to the rebel groups from Heilongjiang province (photographed with a self-timer). 16 October 1966.
  • Self-portrait, Li in his office at the Heilongjiang Daily dons a Red Guard armband that he borrowed from the newspaper's printing shop (photographed with a self-timer). 6 July 1966
  • The armband given to Li and his rebel group during their visit to Bejing at the end of 1966. Individual characters copied from Mao's calligraphy were assembled to read "Red-Color News Soldier." The armband bears the official stamp of the "National Headquarters of the Revolutionary Rebels in News Media."
  • A joyous crowd takes to the streets at night after an official broadcast publicizes the contents of a big character poster hung on 25 May at Bejing University denouncing Party leaders at the school for failing to carry out the Cultural Revolution. Harbin, Heilongjiang province, 1 June 1966
  • Several thousand faculty Members and students from Harbin's University of Industry take to the streets to celebrate Mao's first Meeting with citizens supporting the Cultural Revolution, holding aloft a panel that reads, "Care about the affairs of state and carry out the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution until the end"
  • On the night of 13 August, people take to the streets to celebrate the Central Committee's adoption of the "Sixteen Points" - a blueprint for the Cultural Revolution. Harbin, 13 August 1966
  • Red Guards rename the famed "Madier" eatery on Central Avenue - with its European Art Deco - inspired architecture "Anti-revisionist Restaurant"; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, August 16, 1966
  • A rally at Red Guard Square (the renamed People's Stadium) calls for the "burning of the Northeastern Bureau" (large characters in center); banners read: (top) "We swear to carry out the great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to the end"; (left) "We will die to protect the Communist Party Central Committee" and (right) "We will die to protect Chairman Mao"; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, August 17, 1966
  • Red Guards from the Harbin Military Engineering Institute perform the "It is right to rebel" song and dance to promote Mao's "supreme instruction"; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, August 22, 1966
  • The newly appointed first secretary of the provincial Party committee, Pan Fusheng, addresses a crowd wearing a Red Guard armband, encouraging them to "rebel against the provincial Party leadership." Harbin, 23 August 1966
  • Provincial Party Secretary Wang Yilun, one of Heilongjiang's most powerful leaders, is criticized by Red Guards from the University of Industry and forced to bear a placard around his neck with the accusation "counterrevolutionary revisionist element." Harbin, 23 August 1966
  • Red Guards attack Saint Nicholas, the wooden Russian Orthodox church before tearing it to pieces. Harbin, 23 August 1966
  • Red Guards attack Saint Nicholas, the wooden Russian Orthodox church before tearing it to pieces. Harbin, 23 August 1966
  • Red Guards ransack the Buddhist Jile Temple, burning sculptures and holy scriptures. Harbin, 24 August 1966
  • Masses gathered in front of the Jile Temple cheer as Red Guards from the Harbin Military Institute force self-criticism on the monks after vandalizing their sanctuary. Harbin, 24 August 1966
  • Masses gathered in front of the Jile Temple cheer as Red Guards from the Harbin Military Institute force self-criticism on the monks after vandalizing their sanctuary. Harbin, 24 August 1966
  • Masses gathered in front of the Jile Temple cheer as Red Guards from the Harbin Military Institute force self-criticism on the monks after vandalizing their sanctuary. Harbin, 24 August 1966
  • As part of the monk's self-criticism, they are forced to hold a banner that reads, "To hell with the Buddhist scriptures. They are full of dog farts." Harbin, 24 August 1966
  • In the aftermath of the destruction of Jile Temple, a sign posted on the wall reads, "smash the old world", and damaged statues are desecrated with paper dunce caps. Harbin, 24 August 1966
  • Destruction inside the Jile Temple; Red Guards placed paper dunce caps on sculptures of the Buddha; Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, August 24, 1966
  • The staff of the Heilongjiang Daily accuses Luo Zicheng, head of the work group designated by the provincial Party committee, of following the capitalist line and opposing mass movement. His dunce cap announces his crimes. Harbin, 25 August 1966.
  • The staff of the Heilongjiang Daily accuses Luo Zicheng, head of the work group designated by the provincial Party committee, of following the capitalist line and opposing mass movement. His dunce cap announces his crimes, and on the wall behind him are portraits of Mao, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun, Lin Biao, and Deng Xiaoping (from left to right). Harbin, 25 August 1966
  • At a rally in Red Guard Square, provincial Party secretary and first Party secretary of Harbin Ren Zhongyi, after having his face smeared with black ink, is forced to wear a dunce cap and a placard around his neck with the accusatory label "black gang element" while standing on an unstable chair with his hands behind his back holding a string attached to the ill-fitting hat. Harbin, 26 August 1966
  • At a mass rally organized by rebels in Provincial People's Stadium, Party Secretary Wang Yilun and Li Xia, wife of Governor Li Fanwu are denounced, their faces and clothes splattered with ink, and their crimes spelled out on placards around their necks. Harbin, 29 August 1966
  • At a mass rally organized by rebels in Provincial People?s Stadium, Party Secretary Wang Yilun and Li Xia, wife of Governor Li Fanwu are denounced, their faces and clothes splattered with ink, and their crimes spelled out on placards around their necks. Harbin, 29 August 1966
  • At a mass rally organized by rebels in Provincial People's Stadium, Party Secretary Wang Yilun and Li Xia, wife of Governor Li Fanwu are denounced, their faces and clothes splattered with ink, and their crimes spelled out on placards around their necks. Harbin, 29 August 1966
  • At a mass rally organized by rebels in Provincial People's Stadium, Vice-Governor Chen Dejing is paraded through the crowd. Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 29 August 1966
  • Top Party officials are denounced during an afternoon-long rally in Red Guard Square: Li Fanwu, (right), provincial Party secretary and governor of Heilongjiang, is criticized as a "careerist". Harbin, 29 August 1966.
  • Top Party officials are denounced during an afternoon-long rally in Red Guard Square: Wang Yilun (left) is accused of being a "black gang element." Harbin, 29 August 1966
  • Top Party officials are denounced during an afternoon-long rally in Red Guard Square: provincial Party secretary, Chen Lei, is denounced at Provincial People's Stadium. Harbin, 29, August 1966.
  • Accused of bearing a resemblance to Mao, Heilongjiang province Governor Li Fanwu?s hair is brutally shaved and torn by zealous young Red Guards in Red Guard Square. Harbin, 12 September 1966
  • Accused of bearing a resemblance to Mao, Heilongjiang province Governor Li Fanwu's hair is brutally shaved and torn by zealous young Red Guards in Red Guard Square. Harbin, 12 September 1966
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