The People´s Republic of China and her Founder Mao Tse Tung announces the foundation of the People´s Republic of China:

The foundation of a People´s Republic of China on 1 October 1949 marked the beginning of one of the most unusual developments in contemporary history. Almost starting from scratch, in the aftermath of civil war and of Japanese occupation and based on a rather feudal economy, China has forced her way into the 20th century, sometimes (as with the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution) at horrific cost to her people.

Considering the characteristic features of China´s 600 million inhabitants, the most impressive ones are poverty and blank need. Even though regarded as bad features, they are good features in reality. While poverty strives for change, activity and revolution, a blank page offers every possibility. It is useful to write and draw on it what is novel and more beautiful. Mao Tse Tung, 1958

The famous Red Book that helped to promulgate Mao's revolutionary thoughts, in a French-Chinese edition that was published by Jean de Bonnot, a bookseller in Paris and one among many enthusiasts of Chairman Mao's basic ideology. created by Wolfgang Wiesner

	Some rare photos illustrating the history of Communist China (above to below):
	- Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China, on his throne.
 
					 Music recalling Imperial Times: 
							    "A Dream of the Red Mansion"

	- Pu Yi in Manchuria, the land of his ancestors, now as "Emperor of Manchukuo" 
         under Japanese supervision (until 1945).

	- Pu Yi during the 1950s in the newly founded People's Republic where he was
 	  imprisoned as a war criminal and undergoing "reeducation". After his release 
	  from prison, he worked as a gardener. His fate became known to Western media.

	- "Reeducated" Pu Yi (right) and his post-war wife talking to Prime Minister 
         Zhou En Lai (left) in the early 1960s when Pu Yi became a privileged member 
	   of the Communist Party of China. Pu Yi finally died from kidney cancer at 
	   the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

					 Music from the Cultural Revolution: 
							 "No New China without Communist Party" 

	  


	Ignoring the intrigues around Mao that finally led China into a decade of chaos, 
	once named the "Great Cultural Revolution", we are only considering the key role
	that played Mao's last wife Jiang Qing in it. Her days of supremacy ended with 
	Mao's death in 1976 when Deng Xiao Ping emerged as the new leader of PR China.
	The pictures above are showing Jiang Qing on top of her career (right) and in
	front of the Supreme Court of PR China (left and center) where she was tried
	together with her three accomplices as the so-called "Gang of the Four". 


	


	Vice-Premier Deng Xiao Ping and the			Prime-Minister Zhou En Lai (+1976)
	soundtrack of one of his speeches.			(also Foreign Minister till 1958).
	He became known as the initiator of 			He earned his country much respect
	a new economic development and, as 			when he organized the very first 
	well, an initiator of the Tian An Men 			conference of block-free nations
	massacre in 1989 when supporters of			in Bandung (Indonesia) during the
	the Democratic Movement took to the			1950s. As he held a most important
	streets.							position in PR China, he remained
									the only high-ranking official who
									survived the Cultural Revolution.


	All three of them, - Mao Tse Tung, Zhou En Lai and Deng Xiao Ping -, have shaped the image of People's China.
	Thus, their influence must be considered when it comes to evaluate the actual status of contemporary China as
	an economic and military superpower.

	On the occasion of PR China's 60th birthday and following an old tradition, China's actual leader Hu Jin Tao 
	is wishing his country an eternal existence of "10.000 years". The Chinese character Wan referring to 10.000 
	has always been used to symbolize an incredible high number or amount. Nowadays, when Western-style bankers 
	are burning billions of dollars, the 10.000 has become a rather moderate number. Nevertheless, the age of 60
	years, seen in the frame of a 10.000 years' lifetime, is hinting at the earliest days of infancy. I still
	remember having heard that, according to Vietnamese lore, a newborn child should by no means be praised for
	its beauty. Instead, it should be called ugly because of the evil spirits surrounding us. They might become
	jealous and might harm the child in its cradle. Hence, we better say: The People's Republic of China, what 
	a poor and ugly place to live in ! W.W. [Meaning of the above calligraphy: "10.000 years for PR China !"]