Editing Cultural Revolution (section)

===Mao's cult of personality and "mango fever" (August) ===
{{Main|Mango cult}}{{See also|Mao Zedong's cult of personality}}
[[File:1967-11 1967年 毛泽东接见红卫兵油画.jpg|thumb|A propaganda oil painting of Mao during the Cultural Revolution (1967)]]

In the spring of 1968, a massive campaign aimed at enhancing Mao's reputation began. On 4 August, Mao was presented with mangoes by the Pakistani foreign minister [[Sharifuddin Pirzada|Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada]],<!-- Name not mentioned in sources but dates appear to be correct --> in an apparent diplomatic gesture.<ref name="Murck2013">{{cite book |first=Alfreda |last=Murck |title=Mao's Golden Mangoes and the Cultural Revolution |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=mymWMQEACAAJ}} |year=2013 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-3-85881-732-7}}</ref> Mao had his aide send the box of mangoes to his propaganda team at [[Tsinghua University]] on 5 August, who were stationed there to quiet strife among Red Guard factions.<ref name="Walder2015">{{cite book |first=Andrew G. |last=Walder |title=China Under Mao |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=n_qpBwAAQBAJ |page=280}} |year=2015 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-05815-6 |pages=280–281}}</ref><ref name="Murck2013"/>

Several months of "mango fever" followed as the fruit became a focus of a "boundless loyalty" campaign for Mao. More replica mangoes were created, and the replicas were sent on tour around Beijing and elsewhere. Many revolutionary committees visited the mangoes in Beijing from outlying provinces. Approximately half a million people greeted the replicas when they arrived in [[Chengdu]]. Badges and wall posters featuring the mangoes and Mao were produced in the millions.<ref name="Walder2015" />

The fruit was shared among all institutions that had been a part of the propaganda team, and large processions were organized in support of the "precious gift", as the mangoes were known.<ref name="Leese2011">{{citation |author=Daniel Leese |title=Mao Cult: Rhetoric and Ritual in China's Cultural Revolution |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=iqjviY6aFloC |page=221}} |year=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-49811-1 |pages=221–222}}</ref> A dentist in a small town, Dr. Han, saw the mango and said it was nothing special and looked just like a sweet potato. He was put on trial for "malicious slander", found guilty, paraded publicly throughout the town, and then shot in the head.<ref name="Moore2013">{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Malcolm |date=7 March 2013 |title=How China came to worship the mango during the Cultural Revolution |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9914895/How-China-came-to-worship-the-mango-during-the-Cultural-Revolution.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120055831/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9914895/How-China-came-to-worship-the-mango-during-the-Cultural-Revolution.html |archive-date=20 November 2015 |access-date=28 January 2016 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=Beijing}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-mao-mango-cult-of-1968/ |title=The Mao Mango Cult of 1968 and the Rise of China's Working Class |last1=Marks |first1=Ben |website=Collectors Weekly |access-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105161815/https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-mao-mango-cult-of-1968/ |archive-date=5 November 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

It has been claimed that Mao used the mangoes to express support for the workers who would go to whatever lengths necessary to end the factional fighting among students, and a "prime example of Mao's strategy of symbolic support."<ref name="Schrift2001">{{cite book |last1=Schrift |first1=Melissa |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=MQFBcWSPRdYC |page=98}} |title=Biography of a Chairman Mao Badge: The Creation and Mass Consumption of a Personality Cult |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8135-2937-0 |pages=96–98 |access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> Through early 1969, participants of Mao Zedong Thought study classes in Beijing returned with mass-produced mango facsimiles, gaining media attention in the provinces.<ref name="Leese2011" />