The East Asian Library of Rutgers University owns a collection of ca. 3000 photographs which were taken during the final years of the Cultural Revolution. Most of the photographs date from 1974 to 1978 and chronicle the turbulent transition from the era of Mao Zedong (1893-1976) to the of era of Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997). The majority of the photographs originate from the Xinhua News Agency and many of them can be found in official Chinese publications of the time (e.g., Peking Review 北京周报, China Pictorial 中国画报, Zhongguo sheying 中国摄影, etc.).

According to Professor Odoric Wou, who donated the collection to Rutgers, the photographs were exhibited in New York’s Chinatown in the early and mid-seventies in conjunction with the screening of Chinese films from the People’s Republic of China. Copies of the photographs were provided by a Chinese representative at the United Nations and were enlarged and manufactured for the exhibitions by the Photo Group, New York (纽约图片组制作). The film screenings and photo exhibitions were mainly geared toward a Chinese audience and were intended to inform overseas Chinese about contemporary China.