During the Cultural Revolution, Mao had allowed Jiang Qing to keep a tight grip on all cultural affairs: no dramas were performed except her model Peking operas, virtually all periodicals ceased publication, and only a handful of short stories and novels were printed. Bookstores sold collections of Mao's works, tales of revolutionary heroes, a small number of school textbooks, and a few books on elementary technology. But there were virtually no customers.
