Chairman Mao badge
Encyclopedia
Chairman Mao badge is the name given to a type of pin badge
Badge
A badge is a device or fashion accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath , a sign of legitimate employment or student status, or as a simple...

 displaying an image of Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

 that was ubiquitous in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 during the early period of the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

, from 1966 to 1971. The term is also used for badges associated with Mao that do not actually have a picture of him on them. Chairman Mao badges were, together with the "little red book", one of the most visible and iconic manifestations of the Cult of Mao.

History

Badges depicting Mao Zedong first appeared at the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese Military and Political College (中国人民抗日军事政治大学) at Yan'an
Yan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....

 during the 1930s. These early badges were homemade, usually being constructed out of the metal from used toothpaste tubes.

By the 1940s badges showing Mao by himself or together with other important people were being produced in small numbers as commemorative medals or as awards for service to the communist party
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...

 or to the army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...

. Unlike the later Cultural Revolution period badges, which normally portrayed Mao by himself, these badges frequently portrayed Mao side by side with other Chinese revolutionary figures such as Zhu De
Zhu De
Zhu De was a Chinese militarist, politician, revolutionary, and one of the pioneers of the Chinese Communist Party. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in 1955 Zhu became one of the Ten Marshals of the People's Liberation Army, of which he is regarded as the founder.-Early...

, Chen Yi
Chen Yi (communist)
Chen Yi was a Chinese communist military commander and politician. He served as the 2nd Mayor of Shanghai and the 2nd Foreign Minister of China.-Biography:Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....

, He Long
He Long
He Long was a Chinese military leader. He rose to the rank of Marshal and Vice Premier after the founding of the People's Republic of China.-Early life:He Long was a member of the Tujia ethnic group...

, Lin Biao
Lin Biao
Lin Biao was a major Chinese Communist military leader who was pivotal in the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, especially in Northeastern China...

 and Lu Xun
Lu Xun
Lu Xun or Lu Hsün , was the pen name of Zhou Shuren , one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century. Considered by many to be the leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in baihua as well as classical Chinese...

, or showed Mao with communist leaders from other countries, such as Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 and Kim Il Sung. During this period badges were smaller but more robust than the Cultural Revolution period badges, and some badges produced during the 1950s were even made of gold (initially 22 carat
Carat (purity)
The karat or carat is a unit of purity for gold alloys.- Measure :Karat purity is measured as 24 times the purity by mass:where...

, but later reduced to 13 or 14 carat).

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 in 1949, and throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, badges showing an image of Mao were produced mainly for special occasions, for example Chinese soldiers were given star-shaped badges with a portrait of Mao when they returned to China from the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

, and labourers working on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway were given gold-plated copper badges with a bilingual inscription in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 and Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

 on completion of the road in December 1954. By the mid 1960s Mao badges began to become more prevalent, and were even distributed at international events such as the 1965 Leipzig Trade Fair
Leipzig Trade Fair
The Leipzig Trade Fair was a major fair for trade across Central Europe for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, its location happened to lie within the borders of East Germany, whereupon it became one of the most important trade fairs of Comecon and was traditionally a meeting place...

, but it was not until the end of 1965 that small aluminium Mao badges, similar to the Cultural revolution period badges, first started to be produced in Shanghai.

Mao badges exploded in popularity with the launch of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Almost overnight the function of Mao badges changed completely: what had previously been largely commemorative or ceremonial items worn by a comparative few suddenly became required symbols of loyalty to Mao worn by almost everyone. Along with the "little red books" of Mao's sayings, badges with a portrait of Mao become essential indicators of the wearer's loyalty to Mao, worn on the left side just above the heart. Bigger badges indicated a greater degree of loyalty to Mao, and some even pinned the badges directly into their skin as an extreme indication of their loyalty. Conversely, members of the landowning class and reactionaries were not allowed to wear Mao badges, and the conspicuous lack of a Mao badge marked them out as enemies of the people.

At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution few ordinary people wore Mao badges in the ordinary course of their daily life, and although production of badges in Shanghai increased steadily from 32,000 in July 1966 to 175,000 the following month, it was only when Mao was presented with some Mao badges by Red Guards
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...

 at a mass rally at Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...

 on 18 August 1966 that the wearing of these badges became widespread. In September 1966 production of Mao badges in Shanghai soared to 1.3 million, and during the height of the Cultural Revolution, from 1968 to 1971, an estimated total of between 2 and 5 billion Chairman Mao badges were produced throughout the country. Badges were primarily distributed to workers, students and soldiers by their work unit
Work unit
A work unit or danwei is the name given to a place of employment in the People's Republic of China. While the term danwei remains in use today it is more properly used to refer to a place of employment during the period when the Chinese economy was still more heavily socialist or when used in the...

s, and they were not widely available for purchase at shops. Badges were further distributed by trading between friends or on the black market, and by being given as gifts.

The high tide of Mao badge mania was reached in April 1969, during the 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of China
National Congress of the Communist Party of China
The National Congress of the Communist Party of China is a party congress that is held about once every five years. The National Congress is theoretically the highest body within the Communist Party of China, but in practice important decisions are made before the meeting. Since 1987 the National...

, when huge numbers of Mao badges were produced for distribution at the congress. However, the vast quantities of aluminium being used was having serious repercussions on Chinese industry, causing Mao to demand "Give me back the airplanes" (还我飞机), and in June 1969 the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the highest authority within the Communist Party of China. Its approximately 350 members and alternates are selected once every five years by the National Party Congress....

 issued a document forbidding the production of any more Mao badges unless specially authorized. After the death of Lin Biao in September 1971, the wearing of Mao badges declined rapidly, and few people outside rural areas wore Mao badges in public during the latter part of the Cultural Revolution, from 1972 to 1976. After the fall of the Gang of Four
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four was the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes...

 in October 1976, a month after the death of Mao, work units started to organize the collection and recycling of Mao badges, although many people secretly held on to their badges.

Description of badges

The typical Chairman Mao badges of the Cultural Revolution period were made from an aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 base, either coloured gold or left silver, covered with a red plastic pattern, to produce a red and gold or a red and silver design. Other colours were also used sometimes, such as yellow for a field of sunflowers as a background to Mao. In addition to the typical aluminium and plastic badges, badges were also made in other materials, such as porcelain, bamboo, perspex and plastic, but these made up only a tiny fraction of the total number of badges produced.
The vast majority of designs have the same profile image of Mao, coloured gold or silver, always looking to the left. The central image of Mao is usually set in a red background, which may be plain or patterned, with or without a border design, and with or without an inscription. Inscriptions vary from a single character (most commonly 忠 zhōng meaning "loyalty") to quotations from Mao or lines of his poetry, or simply slogans such as "the Revolutionary Committee
Revolutionary committee
Revolutionary committees or revkoms were Bolshevik-led organizations in Soviet Russia and in areas of its activities established to serve as provisional governments and temporary Soviet administrations in territories under the control of the Red Army in 1918-1920, during the Russian Civil War and...

 is good" (革命委员会好).

Most badges have an inscription on the reverse, which often recorded where the badge was made and, if appropriate, what special occasion it commemorated. In addition the reverse may also feature a revolutionary slogan, a quotation from Mao, or respectful wishes for long life to Chairman Mao. Thus each obverse design may have hundreds of different varieties with different reverse inscriptions, being produced in different parts of the country or to commemorate different events.

Classification of badges

The British Museum catalogue of Chairman Mao badges classifies the obverse designs of Mao badges from the Cultural Revolution period as follows.

A. Mao profile
  • small, round, gold
  • small, round, red and gold
  • small, rectangular, with inscription/image
  • small, rectangular, Selected Works, plastic
  • small, diamond/starshaped, red and gold
  • small, with Lenin
    Vladimir Lenin
    Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

  • small, round, red and gold
  • small, rectangular, with inscription/image
  • small, round, red and gold, with sunray striations
  • round, red and gold
  • round, red and gold, with inscription/image
  • round, red and gold, with sunray striations
  • round, red and gold, with sunray striations (border only)
  • round, red and gold, with sunray striations, with inscription/image
  • round, red and gold, with sunray striations, with outer border
  • red and gold, three sunflowers/hearts/loyalty characters
  • red and gold, five sunflowers
  • red and gold, seven sunflowers
  • red and gold, nine sunflowers
  • red and gold, outer border of sunflowers
  • red and gold, with Tian'anmen
    Tiananmen Square
    Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...

  • red and gold, with Shaoshan
    Shaoshan
    Shaoshan is a county-level city in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, noted as the birthplace of Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China. Shaoshan was an important base during the Chinese Communist Revolution....

  • red and gold, with Jinggangshan
  • red and gold, with Zunyi
    Zunyi Conference
    The Zunyi Conference was a meeting of the Communist Party of China in January of 1935 during the Long March. This meeting involved a power struggle between the leadership of Bo Gu and Otto Braun and the opposition led by Mao Zedong. The result was that Mao left the meeting in position to take...

  • red and gold, with Yan'an
    Yan'an
    Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....

  • red and gold, with Great Hall of the People
    Great Hall of the People
    The Great Hall of the People is located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square, Beijing, People's Republic of China, and is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of China. It functions as the People's Republic of China's...

  • red and gold, with various revolutionary sites
  • red and gold, on map of China
  • red and gold, waves/warship
  • red and gold, with sunray striations, waves/warship
  • red and gold, waves/warship, red flag(s)
  • red and gold, with sunray striations, ship approaching
  • red, gold and white, lighthouse, globe
  • red and gold, with sunray striations, globe
  • red and gold, train, red flag(s)


B. Mao in military attire
  • Mao profile, round, red and gold, with sunray striations
  • Mao profile, star-shaped, red and gold, with sunray striations
  • Mao profile, round, red and gold, with inscription/image
  • Mao three-quarters, red and gold, with sunray striations
  • Mao three-quarters, red, gold and white, warship, red flag
  • Mao with cap, Yan'an portrait
  • Mao three-quarters with cap, red and gold


C. Mao portraits in civilian attire
  • head and neck, open collar
  • head and neck
  • Beidaihe portrait
  • Mao with bamboo hat, wearing jacket
  • Mao with bamboo hat, wearing white shirt
  • Mao goes to Anyuan
    Anyuan District
    Anyuan District is a district of the city of Pingxiang, Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China.The famous Maoist propaganda painting "Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan" is set in this location, depicting an occasion when the young Mao traveled to Anyuan to help lead a miners' strike.- External...

     portrait
  • Mao at the 9th National Conference
    National Congress of the Communist Party of China
    The National Congress of the Communist Party of China is a party congress that is held about once every five years. The National Congress is theoretically the highest body within the Communist Party of China, but in practice important decisions are made before the meeting. Since 1987 the National...

    , counting out points on his fingers
  • Mao with armband raising his right arm
  • Mao in overcoat with seven buttons, raising his right arm
  • Mao in overcoat with six buttons, raising his right arm
  • Mao with overcoat over his right arm


D. Badges without Mao's portrait
  • Small badges without portrait of Mao
  • Rectangular badges, red and gold, inscription only

Collections

Even during the Cultural Revolution, Mao badges were extensively collected, traded and given as gifts. However it is unlikely that anyone was able to match the collection of Mao badges that Ye Qun
Ye Qun
Ye Qun was the wife of Lin Biao , the Vice-Chairman of China who controlled China's military power. She was mostly known for taking care of politics for her husband. She died with her husband and son in the plane crash over Mongolia on September 13, 1971...

, wife of Lin Biao, managed to put together at the start of the Mao badge craze. She collected several thousand different types of Mao badge to give to Mao on his 73rd birthday on 26 December 1966, although she was unable to achieve the symbolic target of ten thousand
Ten thousand years
The use of the phrase "ten thousand years" in various East Asian languages originated in ancient China as an expression used to wish long life to the Emperor, and is typically translated as "long live" in English...

 badges that she was hoping for.

After the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Mao badges were meant to be handed in for recycling, but many or most remained in private ownership. From the mid 1980s Mao memorabilia became very collectible, and Mao badges could be bought at flea market
Flea market
A flea market or swap meet is a type of bazaar where inexpensive or secondhand goods are sold or bartered. It may be indoors, such as in a warehouse or school gymnasium; or it may be outdoors, such as in a field or under a tent...

s across China. There are now many private collectors of Chairman Mao badges in China, with the most prolific collectors accumulating tens of thousands of specimens. Wang Anting (王安廷) from Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...

, had a collection of more than 50,000 badges by 2001, and in 2006 Lin Yizhou (林意洲) was reported to have amassed a collection of more than 200,000 badges. Outside of China, some museums have started to acquire collections of objects relating to Chairman Mao, including badges, and the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

has a modest but well-catalogued collection of nearly 350 Chairman Mao badges.

External links

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