People's communes are good

人民公社好
Renmin gongshe hao!
People's communes are good
1969, October
Hebei renmin meishu chubanshe (河北人民美术出版社)
77x53 cm.
BG E13/552

An iconic and often reprinted photograph of Mao Zedong in the countryside of Henan, August 1958. It shows a happy Mao in a plentiful grain field at the start of the Great Leap Forward, which would cause crop failures and millions of deaths from starvation. Although published under the name of the New China News Agency, the actual photograph was made by Hou Bo, Mao's main photographer.