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The Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan possesses a stunning collection of rare propaganda papercuts from the Cultural Revolution--a period of massive political upheaval in China that began in 1966 and lasted about a decade. The papercuts were scanned and made available as high-resolution digital images in this collection by the University Library Digital Library Production Service (DLPS).

View the News Service article about the papercuts discovery.

The authors of these papercuts are unknown. The only provenance information is the region where they were created (Guangdong Province) and the time frame. There was little to no protection of copyrighted works in China during the time in question (see "Copyright, Trademark and Patent Law in the People's Republic of China" by Mark Sidel, Texas International Law Journal, Vol. 21, Issue 2, Date: 21/1986, Start Page: 259).

This digitized collection is accessible for purposes of education and research. We've indicated what we know about copyright and rights of privacy, publicity, or trademark. Due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information. We are eager to hear from any rights owners, so that we may obtain accurate information. Upon request, we'll remove material from public view while we address a rights issue (as per OCLC's 2010 report "Well-intentioned practice for putting digitized collections of unpublished materials online").