Illustration:
ill. 4.7 b (set: 4.7)
Date:
1960s - 1970s
Genre:
article of daily use, everyday commodity, handbag
Material:
scan, paper, colour; original source: handbag
Source:
Wenge yiwu 2000: Wenge yiwu shoucang yu jiage 文革遗物收藏与价格 (An archive and price list of relics from the Cultural Revolution), edited by Tie Yuan 铁源, Beijing: Hualing, 2000:142.
Keywords:
Little Red Book, Mao´s words, Mao quotations, article of daily use, everyday commodity, handbag, everyday life

Handbag with Little Red Book (Hongbaoshu beibao 红宝书背包)

Mao’s words, and in particular, the selection of quotations published in the form of the The Little Red Book had been variously called a “revolutionary’s dictionary”, a “spiritual atom bomb,” a “compass for the revolution” or a powerful “Monkey’s cudgel” (as in this Big Character Poster of 1972).

As an almighty panacea Mao’s words as collected in the Little Red Book can be found on numerous propaganda posters, in songs and in the literature of the time. One could live without food or drink, but not without the Little Red Book, so it was said. And thus, the Little Red Book found its way onto everyday commodities such as handbags or marriage certificates and was to be remembered as the “precious Red Book” 红宝书 (from an earlier description as 红彤彤的革命宝书 which appears in Renmin Ribao, RMRB 4.12.1967).