This picture shows Mao Zedong with Pol Pot and Ieng Sary during the visit of the Khmer Rouge leaders to Beijing in June 1975. It was featured in the publication (French and English versions) entitled The People’s Republic of Kampuchea (1979). According to the caption which accompanied the image in that publication, the photograph was part of the archives found by the Vietnamese and Kampuchea United Front for National Salvation troops at the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (Office code 870). Mao is shown congratulating Ieng Sary and Pol Pot and, according to the original caption, saying: “Comrades, you have achieved a prodigious victory. In one go, no more classes!”

This photograph is part of the collection held by the Agence Khmère de Presse (AKP) and Cambodia’s Ministry of Information. This collection, which documents the early years of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea as photographed by the Vietnamese and a small team of Cambodian photographers, has not yet been classified or indexed.