The new edition of “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” is set to be published this year in December. However, the appearance of this new edition looks nothing like the traditional “little red book” version that was published in 1960. From 1966 on, Chinese officials have not published a second edition of “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung”.
Chen Yu, the head editor of the new version of the book as well as a researcher at the People’s Liberation Army Military Sciences Center states that civilians and educators are behind this latest version and not the government, meaning that there is no governmental motivation behind it; however, this book is still waiting for official approval.
Chen said that this edition of “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” will be published in three versions: one with 240,000 words, one with 120,000 words and one with 60,000 words. The official title of the book has not been set, but it will not be called “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung”. The book will use the name “Mao Zedong” to try to be more objective.
The content of the new edition of the book will differ from the 1960 version. The 1960 version collected its quotes from the four volume anthology of Mao, while the new version will be edited from a total of 58 writings of Mao that were written from 1960’s onwards. It will also mention the Cultural Revolution.
“In order to escape any misunderstandings, the style of the new edition does not imitate the style of the ‘Little Red Book’.” Published during the Cultural Revolution, housed in a red cover, small enough to fit inside one’s hand, the book “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” was a perfect fit to put inside the pocket of one’s uniform.
On the other hand, Chen states that this new version is the size of a large book; pages of the 240,000 word version will be the size of A4 paper and will retail for a cost of 2000 RMB. The new edition took two years to compile and required a team of over 20 people. “These people include students, entrepreneurs, university professors, and elderly aunties. They ranged in age from 18 to 70.” Chen Yu also said, “I asked them which sentence from Mao’s writings had most enlightened them, and from that 20 sentences were picked out.”
Some scholars have deduced that during the Cultural Revolution, there were some 50 billion copies of “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” published around the world in over 50 different versions. This makes “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung” second only to the Bible in having the highest number of books published.
Source: Sohu
Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.
Keywords: Mao Zedong little red book Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung Mao Tse-tung
All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate.
Please login to add a comment. Click here to login immediately.
50 billion copys? so they expect that during the cultural revolution, every person on the planet bought 10 copys of the book?? bibles are everywhere, even in hotel rooms in america, C of E school give every student a childrens bible etc etc. I have never see or been given a little red book. I suspect its either 50 million copys (all in chinese) or 500 million copys (all in chinese).
Oct 02, 2013 09:29 Report Abuse
Agree, I was in many places in china and visit many people, but none of them does not show up with this. It is something like Bigfoot - everyone talks about, but no one see it :D
Oct 07, 2013 00:28 Report Abuse
Sign up with
Google
(
(