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According to official statistics from departments associated with the PLA General Political Department, from 1964 to 1976, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung was published in 4 Chinese editions, 8 Chinese minority languages in 8 versions, one Braille edition, 37 foreign language version and a bilingual Chinese-English version (total 38 foreign versions), with a total printing of 1,055,498,000 copies. The Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Administration, according to reports from October 1967, published translations in 65 languages in 853 formats for worldwide distribution.
Some researchers claim that as many as 5 to 6.5 billion copies of Quotations were printed, however, these claims appear to be dubious and are not corroborated by governmental Chinese reports.
The book's phenomenal popularity may be because it was essentially an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times during the latter half of Mao's rule, especially during the Cultural Revolution.
During the Cultural Revolution, studying the book was not only required in schools but was also a standard practice in the workplace as well. All units, in the industrial, commercial, agricultural, civil service, and military sectors, organized group sessions for the entire workforce to study the book during working hours. Quotes from Mao were either bold-faced or highlighted in red, and almost all writing, including scientific essays, had to quote Mao.
Read more about this topic: Quotations From Chairman Mao
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