Chairman Mao Zedong was not keen to taste the mangoes gifted by Pakistani foreign minister. So he passed on the unwanted mango to his supporters. From then, mangoes became a mania in China
2. Mangoes were occasionally
found in China prior to 1968
But it became a craze after
4 August 1968
Mian Arshad Hussain, foreign
minister of Pakistan gifted a
crate of mangoes to Mao
Zedong, Chairman of the
Communist Party of China on
4 August 1968
Mao was not interested in
tasting an alien fruit
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION 2
3. Mao sent his Pakistani gift
of mangoes to his band of
supporters who were
agitating against Mao’s
policies in Qinghua
University (Tsinghua
University now)
Mao is not used to sending
gifts
When the crate of mangoes
came from Mao, his
followers were in tears
They were not interested in
eating but preserving as
lifelong gifts
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION
3
4. Red Guards were formed in 1966
as a militant student group by CCP
in universities, colleges and high
schools to propagate Communist
ideologies especially the Cultural
Revolution
When the Cultural Revolution
failed and led to a massive
famine, Red Guards became real
red to CCP
Red Guards were not willing to
listen to Mao’s call to go to
villages
Here Mao used his Workers –
Peasants against the Red Guards
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION
4
5. Factory Workers were
called as “The Worker-
Peasant Mao Zedong
Thought Propanganda
team”
They were pitted
against the Red Guards
Mao send his unwanted
mango crate to his
thought propanganda
team
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION
5
6. When the crate of mangoes
came to factory workers
fighting against the Red
Guards in Qinghua university
campus, they went joyfully
mad
They were not able to believe
that Chairman Mao had sent a
gift
Thought Propaganda team
was touching the mangoes,
screaming non-stop
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION
6
7. The news about Chairman’s
mango gift to factory workers
went viral across China
As everyone cannot have
Chairman’s mango gift, they
made wax models, art work,
posterrs and other
paraphernelia with mangoes
Soon mangomania gripped all
over China
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION
7
8. Although thousands of
workers were mad after
mango gift from their
Chairman Mao
They are not aware about
Pakistani connection
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, PUBLIC ACTION
8