One morning in August 1968,

factory worker Wang Xiaoping overheard

news of a mysterious mandatory meeting.

Rumors whispered through the cafeteria

described shipments of a gift

from the country’s communist leader,

Chairman Mao Zedong.

And sure enough, managers soon dispersed

a gift to every factory worker—

a glass box encasing

a golden wax replica of a mango.

Wang Xiaoping’s factory wasn’t the only

facility to receive this unusual offering.

The Chairman gifted fresh mangoes

to factories across China,

leading employees to stay up late,

touching the fruits and contemplating

the meaning behind Mao's gesture.

Some tried to preserve

the fresh mangoes in formaldehyde,

while others ate the fruit

and commissioned wax replicas

of their prize.

In one factory, workers initiated

a strange ritual:

peeling and boiling their mangoes

to create a “holy” broth

that was spooned into their mouths.

Since traditional Chinese medicine often

involved boiling ingredients,

it's possible this mango wine was

concocted as a kind of healing tonic.

Soon, fables formed that the fruit

ensured a long life

like the Peaches of Immortality

from Chinese mythology.

And by refusing to eat

the mangoes himself,

Mao had generously sacrificed his own

longevity for the working class.

But whatever Mao's intentions,

this mango mania wasn’t as frivolous

as it might seem.

And in fact, it’s harmless appearance

hid a much darker truth.

Two years earlier, Mao Zedong had launched

the Cultural Revolution,

a decade-long political and ideological

movement intended to erase

capitalist thought and cultural traditions

from Chinese society.

To enact this plan,

Mao called on the Red Guards,

a student-led paramilitary group.

He enlisted them to help eradicate

the “Four Olds”—

a vaguely defined set

of customs, habits, and ideas

often associated
with the elite upper-class.

Mao’s dogma was militant,

and the Red Guard interpreted his vision

as achievable only through violence.

The Red Guard acted above law and order,

ransacking temples and tombs,

including those of dynastic royalty

and Confucius.

Homes were raided and piles

of books burned in the streets.

But the Red Guard’s rampage went

far beyond property damage.

They began holding “struggle sessions”—

public spectacles designed to shame

so-called class enemies.
Victims were accused of holding
elitist, capitalist values,

and were often forced to wear heavy

signs detailing their crimes.

The Red Guard pressured people

to accuse their friends and family.

They manipulated students to denounce

their teachers and parents.

They gradually morphed

into torture and executions.

After two years of the Red Guards’ chaos,

Mao recanted his support

and sent 30,000 factory workers to fight

the Red Guard at Qinghua University.

With the help of the

People’s Liberation Army,

these factory workers succeeded,

and Mao thanked them for their service

with a crate of 40 mangoes.

This gesture wasn’t quite as generous

as it appeared

since Mao was actually passing

along a gift

he received from Pakistan’s

foreign minister.

But much worse, this reward was quickly

tainted by the ideology

of the Cultural Revolution.

As a propaganda tool, Mao’s mangoes

demanded high levels of respect.

Workers boarded unheated buses

in sub-zero temperatures to visit

mandatory mango exhibitions

organized by the government.

Factory workers were scolded

for not holding their replicas securely.

And in Sichuan, a man who remarked

that the mango was “nothing special”

and “looked like a sweet potato”

was arrested, tried, and executed.

For reasons mostly unknown, the mango

fever broke a year and a half later.

After the Red Guard was dissolved

and participants were sent

to the countryside for re-education,

the mystifying mango faded

from official propaganda.

Wax from the replicas were repurposed

for candles during power outages.

And today you’d be lucky to find

an antique mango tray or medallion

while perusing a Beijing flea market.

But the tale of Mao’s mangoes

is just a minor story

amidst a decade
of painful, buried history.

Discussion of the Cultural Revolution

is restricted across China.

And though some former Red Guards have

attempted to challenge this policy

by publicly reflecting and apologizing

for their actions,

they still avoid maligning Mao Zedong.

Given the current political

landscape of China,

only time will tell when this history

will be discussed openly and freely.