This piece is a series of elements pertinent to the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, two movements that took place under the leadership of Mao Zedong which caused widespread famine and iconoclasm. A time full of hardship and violence, the first element is the grains of rice which grew in scarcity, not because there wasn’t enough rice, but because China paid the Soviet Union for factories in grain. The second element is the “Little Red Book”, the book which contained quotations from Mao and one of the most printed books of the 20th century. The third element is the sparrow, which were killed at mass due to their consumption of precious grain. But their demise meant there were no birds to eat the locusts and other pests which would plague the Chinese people for the next few years. The fourth element is the badge of the red guard, a group made up of students who caused mass destruction for Mao. Their work lead to the death of many and the mass deportation of intellectuals to work camps or to the countryside. Lastly, is a broken porcelain bowl, representing the iconoclasm of the old Chinese culture and tradition which the Chinese people gave up to modernize.