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After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (II)”

Fu Baoshi Chinese

Not on view

Mao’s second poem on the eradication of disease envisions a bright future:

We dig with silver shovels
And iron arms shake the earth and the Three Rivers.
God of plagues, where are you going?
We burn paper boats and candles
To light his way to heaven.

In Fu’s illustration, myriad springtime blossoms echo the legions of collective workers who go forth to increase production—with nature’s blessings—during the Great Leap Forward.

After Mao Zedong’s “Saying Goodbye to the God of Disease (II)”, Fu Baoshi (Chinese, 1904–1965), Album leaf, ink and color on paper, China

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