Mao Zedong Receiving Red Guards on Tian'anmen Square, Beijing, 1966

On 18 August 1966, Mao "received" the Red Guards on Tian'anmen Square for the first time. Around one million people showed up, mostly young boys and girls who were kept waiting for hours and hours, shouting, singing and waving their Little Red Books. When Mao finally appeared and waved at the crowd, as documented on this photograph, the masses reached a collective ecstasy that is difficult to imagine. Mao wears the Red Guards armband he had just received from the 17-year old radical Red Guard leader Song Binbin (宋彬彬). A colorized version of the photograph became a popular poster.