This volume of Mao’s poems includes additional notes for readers’ reference. The book's editorial also provides historical background to the poems and analysis of its contents to facilitate study. Red was the obvious choice of colour for the covers of books featuring revolutionary content. Associated with communism, red symbolised revolutionary zeal and allegiance to Chairman Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). More than a billion copies of books containing Mao’s essays, poems and speeches were printed from 1966 to 1976. At the height of the Cultural Revolution, these books became so important that they were even presented as wedding gifts.
