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China’s Cultural Revolution, now highly collectible

"All along, people have appreciated Cultural Revolution objects," said long-time dealer and collector Lin Ji/AFP

“All along, people have appreciated Cultural Revolution objects,” said long-time dealer and collector Lin Ji/AFP

SHANGHAI, China, May 15 – At the “East is Red” shop in Shanghai, every nook and cranny is packed with memorabilia of China’s Cultural Revolution, from small badges of Chairman Mao Zedong to gigantic posters of his iconic image.

Owner Guo Bing himself is a child of the Cultural Revolution, born in 1966, the year the chaotic and violent decade was launched on May 16. His parents named him with the Chinese character for “soldier”, a common practice at the time.

But now, Guo sees profits rather than Communist Party ideals in the relics of the past, as the market booms for collectibles from a time scarred victims would prefer to forget.

“Prices have risen because of the anniversary of the Cultural Revolution,” said Guo at one of his two shops in China’s commercial hub, whose gleaming skyscrapers epitomise the country’s economic boom after the abandonment of Maoist orthodoxy.

“People suffered during the Cultural Revolution,” Guo admitted, before quickly adding: “We are meeting demand. There is a market.”

Guo was a “Little Red Guard” as a child in Jiangsu province, he said, wearing his older brother’s army uniform, pinning a Mao badge to his chest and signing patriotic songs.

One of them, “The East is Red”, gave him the name for his business, which has dealt in Cultural Revolution memorabilia for two decades.

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