China to hold rare Cultural Revolution photo auction
2006-11-22

Nations China City Beijing Metropolitan Beijing People Mao Zedong Event China Cultural Revolution

Some of the most famous photographs of China's tumultuous decade-long Cultural Revolution that ended 30 years ago will go on auction this week, organizers said.

The auction on Thursday is expected to see some of the most iconic photos from the era taken by some of China's most renowned photographers sell for tens of thousands of dollars, Huachen Auctions said.

"They are very famous and important works in the history of Chinese photography," Huachen spokesman Mei Ligang told AFP, adding the prints had never been put under the hammer before.

A centerpiece of the auction is a photo showing revolutionary leader Mao Zedong on the Tiananmen Rostrum with his top lieutenant Lin Biao before thousands of Red Guards and against the backdrop of a brilliant blue sky.

The 1966 color print by Weng Naiqiang is expected to fetch between 120,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan (13,600 dollars and 17,000 dollars), according to the auction catalogue.

A 1968 portrait of a proselytizing Cultural Revolutionary fanatic with 170 Mao badges pinned to his clothing is expected to bring in 200,000 yuan.

Hou Bo, who covered China's central leadership for Xinhua news agency for 12 years from 1949, has several famous photos on auction, including one of Mao swimming the Yangtze river, Mao with the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama in Beijing and Mao bundled up in a winter coat at the beach at Beidaihe.

Mao launched the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution under the pretext of building a utopian society, but it quickly degenerated into a political power struggle affecting the entire nation, destroying the economy and leaving millions dead.

Organizers said the photos remained popular for their artistic merit as well as historical significance.