Chairman Mao Badges

[Tal Inbar]

I started to look for information on the vast varitey of thes Mao badges - mainly from the cultural revolution.

I would like to recommend a great book by the British Museum:

Chairman Mao badges: symbols and Slogans of the Cultural Revolution

By Hellen Wang. It is available on the net from various stores.

[Tal Inbar]

Now, what is VERY interesting for collectors, is that the entire book is availble online with no charge, from the website of the British Museum here:

British Museum - Chairman Mao badges: symbols and Slogans of the Cultural Revolution


It is strongly recomended for the collectores of these badges, especially the plate, excellent scans of more than 340 different badges:


http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/7%20-%20Plates.pdf

[medals73]

Many MANY thanks for this! We have been without a reference for FAR too long. Admittedly, there were thousands if not tens of thousands of these, but any guide to any percentage is, dare I say, a Great Leap Forwrd.

[Tal Inbar]

Originally Posted by medals73

Admittedly, there were thousands if not tens of thousands of these

As the author of the book tells:

"The starting point for this book is the very modest collection of
almost 350 Chairman Mao badges at the British Museum. It is a
small but manageable number from which to begin to explore
the repertoire of symbolic imagery and inscriptions of the
Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Serious collections of Mao
badges in China start at 10,000 different specimens, and as a
result, Chinese catalogues present hundreds, sometimes
thousands, of badges. Yet they seldom explain the images or
the texts in a consistent way."

[Tal Inbar]

Excellent book that deals with the sociological and history of the badges.

[medals73]

Originally Posted by Tal Inbar

Excellent book that deals with the sociological and history of the badges.

Yes, absolutely first-rate. A serious book.