China Reconstructs.

A broken run of 11 issues of the magazine China Reconstructs, 1959. Issue 5, May, 1959 is missing. All are in original coloured pictorial wrappers, profusely illustrated throughout in black and white with some colour photographic illustrations, usually 40pp. Number 12 includes an index for the full year. Text in English, except for Language Corner, 30.5 x 23cm. Some occasional wear to spines. Some insect damage to a few leaves in places, else in very good condition. This influential magazine was established by Soong Ching-ling in 1949. Published in 6 languages including Arabic and Chinese, the purpose was to present a very positive view of Chinese life and culture to the outside world. Articles in these issues include many of educational and cultural interest: Making Documentary Films in China, Merging Factory and School, Peking After 10 Years, Checkerboard of Canals, Women of the Communes, How We Dug More Coal Than Britain, Opening an Imperial Tomb, New Blossoms On An Old Tree, Szechuan Opera is Reborn, Tibetan Serfdom Nears Its End, "The Philanthropist" by Lao Sheh, Pottery Tomb Figures, Learning from Ancient China's Medicine, The Traditional Theatre Today, Tracing the Thread of the Past, The Great Decade - A Prelude to Progress Yet Greater (with a pictorial fold-out). Articles of particular historical significance at the beginning of the Great Leap Forward include: A Leap That Has Made History, Lushan's "Pig-Iron" Sputnik, A Glorious Era: A Glorious People (with a photographic illustration of Soong Ching Ling near the furnace set up in her garden), The Building of a Giant, How China Gets High Farm Yields, Back Street Rolling Mill, New View of Water Conservancy, The Race for Electric Power, Economic Achievements, The Bumper Crop Charter, The Leap Forward Continues, The New Trend in Local Steel Manufacture, and more. Issue Number 12 has an index for the whole year inserted. …