LONA MANNING
  • Home
  • Books
    • Shelley Novella
  • Research
    • About Shelley
    • Peterloo
    • Kitty Riddle
    • 18th C. love poetry
  • Jane Austen
  • Blog
  • About Me
    • Teaching Philosophy

Chinese propaganda posters

4/30/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
May Day, as in Labor Day, is a statutory holiday here in China. I think the "labor" aspect of the holiday is about as significant in China today as it is in our country. This is now a day off, a day for shopping and going to the movies, which is what I'm going to do.

This is the kind of propaganda poster we're familiar with from the good ol' days -- sturdy, apple-cheeked workers, filled with zeal and joy, gazing into the socialist utopian future and waving the Little Red Book.

I've always had a soft spot for propaganda posters, and the old ones have become collectors' items. There was a bit of a kerfuffle when it was learned that former press secretary Jay Carney had two Soviet propaganda posters hanging in his home...

Picture
I also had a Chinese poster in my kitchen. Mine promoted the importance of regular tractor maintenance and featured, as does the poster at right, a sturdy Chinese girl. I doubt Carney is a closet Marxist, and like me, he displayed the poster half-ironically and half because the posters are a witness to history and, if you can detach them from history (and I do understand if some people can't or won't), they are attractive in their own right.

Does the Chinese government still put out propaganda like this?  Yes and no....  
As part of its theme of "Chinese Dream," (as opposed to, say, "the American Dream,") the government has commissioned dozens of artists to produce posters which are used everywhere -- here at the campus, on the sides of buses and at bus shelters, on the walls around construction sites.

Many posters celebrate an idealized vision of the countryside, the world that the Chinese are leaving behind in their millions in search of work in the cities. Or they show groups of children playing, or people engaged in traditional activities or crafts. Ian Johnson, writing in the New York Review of Books,  made a significant point about these China Dream posters: "The difference is that while the old posters touted Communist values, the new ones largely replace them with pre-Communist Chinese traditions—drawing on traditional folk art like paper cutouts, woodblock prints, and clay figurines to illustrate their message....  Almost all the art used in the posters, with its depictions of traditional dress and poses, used to be derided by the Party as belonging to China’s backward, pre-Communist past; now, these aesthetic traditions are a bulwark used to legitimize the Party as a guardian and creator of the country’s hopes and aspirations."
Above we see a poster reminding everyone that the rice in their bowl is the product of a lot of hard work, so respect every grain. Can't argue with that.  The people below left are harvesting red peppers. 
Picture
In fact, during the Cultural Revolution, Mao -- far from being the guardian of China's culture -- tried to wipe out everything old and traditional and create a Year Zero country. I've written about the Cultural Revolution before and I'll continue banging on about it, in my coming blog posts about our travels in Shandong Province.

Meanwhile, this is me wondering about stealing a poster from the streets because it would be nice to have some art on the walls at the apartment.

We have actually managed to decorate our walls very inexpensively with large wall calendars with nice classical Chinese paintings on them. But I like these fish pictures, too, and the pictures of the countryside.

Below, two posters that stress filial piety. You can see more of the contemporary posters here at the Ministry of Propaganda website.

Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    About the author:

    More about me here. My earlier posts (prior to June 2017) are about my time as a teacher of ESL in China,(just click on "China" in the menu below.) more recent posts focus on my writing, as well as Jane Austen and the long 18th century. Welcome!


    Categories

    All
    18th Century Novel Tropes
    Authoresses
    Book Reviews
    Books Unreviewed Til Now
    China
    China: Sightseeing
    Clutching My Pearls
    East & West Indies & Slavery
    Emma
    Humour
    Jane Austen
    Laowai At Large
    Mansfield Park
    Northanger Abbey
    Parody
    Persuasion
    Postmodern Pushback
    Pride And Prejudice
    Religion & Morality
    Sanditon
    Sense And Sensibility
    Shelley
    Teaching

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    December 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    January 2017
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014


    RSS Feed

    © Lona Manning 2023
Proudly powered by Weebly