The Story of Some Mangoes

According to writer Xu Shanbin, during the Cultural, Mao Zedong received some mangoes from foreign guests, and passed on the fruits to members of Beijing’s Mao Zedong propaganda team (首都工农毛泽东思想宣传队).

“这本来是一件再平常不过的小事。这件小事后来变成了惊天动地的大事。” (“This is really an ordinarily small matter, but it later turned into an earth-shattering issue.”) (证照中国1966-1970，共和国特殊年代的纸上历史，许善斌，新华出版社，2009)

In the 7 August 1967 edition of the Beijing Daily, the headline read “最大关怀　最大信任　最大支持　最大鼓舞” (“Profound Concern, Profound Trust, Profound Support, Profound Encouragement”)

As if that was not enough, the mangoes were taken on a nationwide “tour”. And since it was hard to keep the fruits fresh, plastic replicas were produced.

“我们教师学生中谁都没有见过芒果，甚至连听都没有听说过，大家猜这种水果一定非同小可，是个稀世珍品，有人把它想象成了《西游记》里王母娘娘的蟠桃，吃了就可以长生不老.” (“Among us teachers and students, none had ever seen a mango. We had not even heard of it. Everyone guessed that the fruit must be truly exceptional, and was a rarity. Some even imagined it to be like the fruit in the epic “Journey to the West”, where ingesting it will ensure an everlasting life.”)

The stampede to catch a glimpse of the crudely produced replicas was described as 人山人海 (massively crowded). The replicas were placed in a glass box, carried by two Red Guards, and guarded by four PLA soldiers bearing arms. It was as if the fruits were 超级国宝 (exceptional national treasures).

On the Cultural Revolution, Xu had this to say:

文化大革命时“煮豆燃豆萁，豆在釜中泣”，我们用八年的时间打败了日本鬼子，却用了十年的时间来消灭“阶级敌人”。如果说抗日战争上的是“身体”的话，那么文化大革命伤的就是“灵魂”。(During the Cultural Revolution, it was like the poem where brothers were killing each other. We used eight years to defeat the Japanese demons, but took ten years to extinguish “class enemies.” If the anti-Japanese war had harmed the “body”, then the Cultural Revolution had damaged the “soul.”)