Plastic mango in a glass bell jar with base and stand.

China: , [c.1968]. The fruits of the revolution An example of one of the most extraordinary objects produced during China's Cultural Revolution, commemorating the Chairman's gift, in August 1968, of a case of mangoes to revolutionaries in Beijing. The mango component is usually found made of wax - plastic fruits are a rarer variant. By 1968, the Cultural Revolution had created a hyper-politicized society framed around imparting significance to Mao's every word and deed. China's mango craze was born out of these extreme circumstances. On 4 August, Pakistan's foreign minister arrived at Beijing Capital Airport on an official visit, and he gifted Mao a case of several dozen mangoes to mark the occasion. Not a big fan of the fruit, Mao re-gifted the group to the Worker-Peasant Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team based at nearby Qinghua University, which was responsible for maintaining order among competing student Red Guard factions on campus. The gift coincided with the second anniversary of Mao's call for young revolutionaries to "bombard the headquarters", and it was quickly recast as the transfer, through fruit, of legitimacy from a quasi-divine figure. As a poem published in state media put it, "seeing that golden mango was as if seeing the great leader Chairman Mao! Standing before that golden mango was just like standing beside Chairman Mao" (quoted in Murck, p. 6). As news of the mango gift spread, so did demand for replicas that could be used as ceremonial centrepieces at rallies. Propaganda teams fanned out across urban and rural areas, bringing these replicas to workplaces and halls, where they were received with great fanfare and prominently displayed. This example was made for the use of Beijing Number One Steel Rolling Mill. Please note that the price is inclusive of VAT. Yellow plastic mango (130 x 65 x 50 mm), housed in original 170 x 140 mm bell jar with red baked enamel lettering and decorative sunflowers, 165 x 80 mm glass base. Red lettering faded and a little worn, production imperfections in glass, otherwise a splendid example. Alfreda Murck, "Golden Mangoes: The Life Cycle of a Cultural Revolution Symbol," Archives of Asian Art, vol. 57, 2007.