Vases from Cultural Revolution era

Cultural Revolution, 1966–76, mass mobilization of urban Chinese youth inaugurated by Mao Zedong .  Mao was one of the most prominent Communist theoreticians and his ideas on revolutionary struggle and guerrilla warfare have been extremely influential. In an attempt to prevent the development of a bureaucratized Soviet style of Communism. Mao closed schools and encouraged students to join Red Guard, a group of politically active students of the Cultural Revolution (1966–69) who carried out Mao Zedong's aim of re-revolutionizing Chinese society. These students from the Red Guard denunciated and persecuted Chinese teachers and intellectuals, engaged in widespread book burnings, facilitated mass relocations, and enforced Mao's cult of personality. The movement for criticism of party officials, intellectuals, and "bourgeois values" turned violent, and the Red Guard split into factions. Torture became common, and it is estimated that a million died in the ensuing purges and related incidents. The Cultural Revolution also caused economic disruption; industrial production dropped by 12% from 1966 to 1968.

During the Cultural Revolution, renown artists were force to involve in art work that glorified Mao and his teachings, the peasants and the ordinary workers. Factories were told to produce things that carried revolutionary slogans and ideas.

Alans Museum has a pair of vases made during the Cultural Revolution era. Instead of painting beautiful scenery and landscape on the vases, these vases (both left and right) depict humble peasants going to the field to work. This showed the government at that time put a lot of emphasis on simple ordinary folks such as farmers and workers. They were considered the heroes and pillars of the country.

Peasants on Jingdezhen vases