Mao Tse-tung announces the foundation of the People´s Republic of China:
The proclamation of the 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 a civil war and of Japanese occupation and based on a rather feudal economy, China has forced her way into the twentieth 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. 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”, including Chairman Mao´s citations, in a French-Chinese edition published by Jean de Bonnot, a bookseller in Paris and one of the many enthusiasts of Mao Tse-tung´s revolution at that time.
