Opposition to the Gang of Four by the agricultural workers of Dazhai, in support of Chairman Mao. Colour lithograph, 1976.

[Beijing] : [The People's Art Publishing house] : Xin Hua Bookstore, [December 1976]

1 print : lithograph, printed in black and red ; sheet approximately ??76.5 x 105.5 cm

First edition of 50,000 impressions.

Top row, first frame: The National Party congress, led by Hua GuoFeng, has successfully expunged the Gang of Four, foiling their plans for a military coup against the current government. As news of this spread countrywide, there were celebrations all around, and the peasants of Dazhai felt that they had an intimate connection with Chairman Hua. As they sang the praises of Chairman Hua, they likewise increased the fervour of the rebellion against the Gang of Four, and got the rebellion off to a roaring start at Tiger Head Hill

Top row, second frame: Led by JiangQing, the Gang of Four cracked down hard on Dazhai in September 1975 and 1976, carrying out a series of anti-Mao revolts. In response to this, local party secretary Guo Fenglian along with his fearless comrades, demonstrated extraordinary revolutionary spirit in rebelling against JiangQing, setting an example for the people yet again. The entire country took them as an example, and people from all regions came to learn from and observe them; receiving much insight and motivation from them

Top row, third frame: The peasants of Dazhai have endless affection for Chairman Mao, and sorely miss President Zhou as well. President Zhou has visited Dazhai three times, each time showing great concern for its people and advising them to raise Mao's red flag proudly. On the other hand, JiangQing vehemently opposed Mao. Upon seeing images of Mao and President Zhou in the homes of Dazhai residents, she asked why the photograph she had sent of herself had not been put up. Fenglian coldly rebutted her for the inappropriate size of the photo she had sent, which was larger than Chairman Mao's, which left her speechless. In deep remembrance of Chairman Mao and President Zhou, Dazhai continued to fight the Gang of Four till the end

Middle row, fourth frame: On her first visit to Dazhai, JiangQing let her minions dig trenches in preparation of battle and as a flamboyant gesture of her political strength. However, her motives were immediately detected by the people of Daqing, who upon her departure filled the trenches and erected a pigsty above them. On her second visit, Jiangqing was infuriated, but her efforts at corrective campaigns were resisted by Fenglian. Therefore, the people of Dazhai were able to simultaneously undermine the Gang of Four and develop the farming industry

Middle row, third frame: Battles were happening around the perimeter of the Dazhai corn fields. Jiangqing tried ways and means to cut down the red flag Mao had erected there, picking out flaws in the Dazhai research team's experimental crop. She terrorized Xiaohui, who was in charge of the agricultural projects. However, Xiaohui and the rest of the research team resisted her efforts and continued to push frontiers of progress, productivity and science, achieving even bigger victories through this revolutionary exercise

Middle row, second frame: The youth of Dazhai despised the Gang of Four. The Gang forbade young people to wear red scarves and to sing the nationalist anthem 'The East is red'. They demonstrated bravery in rebelling against the Gang of Four's wishes, declaring that they would sing the anthem in raucous unison so that the warriors at Tiger Head mountain and beyond would hear them. They would don their red scarves as a symbolic part of the red flag Chairman Mao had erected, representing the blood sacrifice of those who died fighting the Gang of Four, in solemn tribute to Chairman Mao's teachings, in defiance of JiangQing's orders, and in taking on the responsibility for continuing the revolution

Middle row, first frame: In her efforts to gain political power, JiangQing attempted to skew Mao's messages inherent in 'Tales of the men of the water marshes', attempting to divide and disrupt. She raised contentious arguments about the need for women to come into power. Her deep hatred for Chairman Mao became evident when she did not return to Beijing upon receiving the news of his weakened condition, appearing indifferent and continuing her lifestyle of banter and poker. Filled with righteous anger, the people of Dazhai made collective efforts to denounce the Gang of Four

Bottom row, first frame: On 8 November 1976, representatives from Daqing finally made their way to Dazhai. People declared this meeting a moment of great victory. Both towns having had red flags erected by Mao himself, there was endless common ground for exchange. Both towns having suffered the persecution of the Gang of Four created a collective outpouring of sentiments against the Gang. Comrades of both towns set their hearts on co-operating with one another under Chairman Hua's leadership, determined to fly Mao's red flags high until the Revolution was fully realized

Bottom row, second frame: Although the local Dazhai party had successfully smashed the conniving efforts of the Gang of Four, the shadow of the latter's threat still remained something to be constantly guarded against, and the fight for progress still remained. They led the people and the party members of Dazhai in diligent readings of Marx and Mao, constantly improving their ability to differentiate real and fictitious readings of Marx. Using the fundamental three-prong principle of 'Thorough and correct understanding Marx's way, Cohesion and Transparency', they buried the Gang of Four's legacy and continued to turn the revolution that Mao had begun into reality

Bottom row, third frame: With cannons firing at Tiger Head Mountain, and the Li River gurgling, the Dazhai battle against the Gang of Four mobilized countrywide forces. The local party gathered the manpower of peasants and citizens alike to realize the 'Seize the revolution, triumph in great productivity' slogan formulated by Mao, with the fight for progress as the backbone of the initiative. All was done in order to effect great change under the leadership of Chairman Hua, to pioneer the first step of a mass movement across the country, to recuperate the losses incurred during the reign of the Gang of Four, to strengthen the cultural outcomes of the successful Cultural Revolution, and to effect agricultural, industrial, scientific and defence-related modernization, ultimately faciliating China's rise to become a powerful nation, where contribution to the finally realized Revolution would never cease

Wellcome Collection 768534i

Lettering in Chinese language and script