Mao’s Golden Mangoes and the Cultural Revolution
September 18 2014 – April 26 2015
China Institute
In 1968, Mao Zedong received a case of mangoes from a Pakistani diplomat and gave it to student rebels at Tsinghua University. The students then distributed the fruit to factory workers, and soon mango fever had swept the People’s Republic, with the tropical fruit held aloft at rallies alongside the Little Red Book. In this fascinating exhibition, medals portraying the Great Helmsman embellished with mangoes appear alongside cheap porcelain trays, papier-mâché mangoes, and printed cotton quilts. All this may sound awfully kitsch, but the Cultural Revolution was no laughing matter, as we’re reminded by a gripping 1976 film—which ends with a deus-ex-machina fruit delivery—in which Maoist propagandists denounce a university professor as an enemy of the state. Through April 26.
To learn more details, please visit this link: http://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/maos-golden-mangoes-cultural-revolution
