Willows in the spring breeze

春风杨柳
Chunfeng yangliu
Willows in the spring breeze
1975, July
Renmin meishu chubanshe (人民美术出版社)
54x78 cm.
BG E15/178

Fresh-eyed youngsters from the city arrive in the countryside for resettlement. During the Cultural Revolution an estimated 12 million boys and girls were sent 'Up to the mountains, down to the villages' in order to be reeducated by the poor and lower-middle peasants.

Chunfeng yangliu (春风杨柳) is an idiom to describe the vibrant scene of spring. The four characters also open the second part of Mao Zedong's poem "Farewell to the God of Plague" (送瘟神), dated 1 July 1958.