This fascinating propaganda photobook celebrates the building of the mausoleum located in the middle of Tiananmen Square in Beijing designed to hold the embalmed remains of Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader who ruled China with an iron fist until the mid 1970s. Mao's short-lived successor, Hua Guofeng (who was quickly replaced by Deng Xiaoping - responsible for opening up the closed economy of what had been an isolated and poor country under Mao) was largely responsible for establishing the posthumous personality cult surrounding Mao (still evident today) in a vain attempt to use the dead leader's popularity in order to solidify his own rule. This high quality publication filled with highly saturated images is an impressive propaganda publication that begins with views of the completed holy shrine designed to hold Mao's embalmed body, followed by images of the construction process in Beijing and the quarrying of high-quality raw materials such as marble to be carved by devoted craftspeople boundlessly loyal to the memory of the dear departed leader. As Parr and WassinkLundgren note: "Mao Zedong died in 1976 at age eighty-two. However like Lenin and Ho Chi Minh, Mao lives on after death, his corpse preserved in a glass case in the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, a specially designed mausoleum that has become a major tourist attraction for Chinese and foreigners alike. This book further memorializes Mao, while also proudly documenting the tremendous achievement of the hall's construction by the publisher of this book, China Architecture and Building Press. The building project involved hundreds of thousands of conscripted 'volunteers' who completed the massive edifice in only six months. The book's title appears in English on a bellyband wrapped around the cover; an English language brochure is loosely inserted into its pages. The brochure identifies the photographers by name accompanied by numbers corresponding to the photos taken by each of them. The location of the memorial hall in Tiananmen Square in Beijing ensures that Mao's presence still cannot be ignored. He still influences - however remotely - everything that happens in the square, whether the annual National Day military parades, or protests such as the huge and fatal June Fourth Incident of 1989, when students and their supporters rallied to demand government reform." Included in: Martin Parr and WassinkLundgren, The Chinese Photobook, page 252 Condition: Very good first edition with English language caption booklet, original acetate dust jacket, belly band and slipcase. Tiny bump to top corner of book and slipcase. Some age fading to exterior of slipcase (does not affect book). Small crease to separate English language caption booklet. Please examine listing photos carefully.