Art of Chinese Propaganda Posters
The idea of nationalism is inbred with the idea of providing people with an identity. It works to manipulate normal people into believing they are part of something largely superior and through observing a set of rules and etiquettes, they can either achieve or contribute to greatness. This was the principle that allowed Mao to embed his doctrine into the lives of Chinese people, and his success relied heavily on artifices such as propaganda posters.
A Brief Look at The Mao Thought
Mao Zedong had recently become the Chairman of the Communist Party of China before instigating the Cultural Revolution to take effect from the years between 1966 to 1976. The purpose behind this revolution was the infamous Mao thought, which propagated that capitalism and traditionalism have hampered development in China’s economy and society and therefore needed to be purged away.
This ideology was given pre-eminence because it showed middle class and lower-class citizens a path to betterment, especially from the failures suffered during the Great Leap Forward. This was a previous socio-political campaign undertaken by the CPC in order to reconstruct Chinese society, but eventually caused the death of 30 million people.
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The Mao thought or Maoism was considered to be a variation of the Marxism-Leninism concept which allowed China to move away from its agrarian culture into a communist reform. He attempted to curb the power of the bourgeois class and demonstrate an egalitarian economy to the proletarians. However, this came through considerable casualties consisting of deliberately organized class struggle, mass destruction of cultural relics, and an upsurge of cultist behaviour towards Maoism.
A question many asks about Maoism is how he was able to organize his campaign to success. The answer is actually quite simple – Mao employed heavy use of literature and art to turn the opinion of the masses towards his indoctrination. This is why propaganda art plays such a significant role in Chinese history and culture.
How Propaganda Art Was Utilised in Mao’s Reign
Propaganda art delivered the longest-lasting impact on the Chinese masses. This was mainly because it was both illustrative and widely distributed around different areas. Chinese nationals took these arts as their main source of information and the CPC often warped the details to serve their purpose.
Propaganda art was passed around mostly in rural areas or in places with a high density of proletarian classes. Most of the art aimed to educate the people about class roles and the ideological sentiments held by the CPC. Alongside the art, the Maoist government also utilized communication mediums such as television, plays, and music to instill the idea of Maoism within the public. Soon enough, people parroted Mao’s quotes and statements and followed with his hope of establishing a communist government.
Many political science contemporaries believe that Mao’s propaganda art was fundamental in creating a cult around his ideology. Of course, much of the working-class had internalized Mao’s thoughts and ideologies while avidly participating in his political campaigns. However, Mao’s death rendered these propaganda arts as a traumatizing emblem of past sorrows, violence, and deaths. Some people have been sent to the point of madness and death from the reminder of the tragedies they had suffered under Maoist rule.
Thus, in current times Mao’s propaganda art is used chiefly as a historical relic and are displayed as such in museums.
The Art in Chinese Propaganda Posters
The content of the posters was dominated by political and economic themes, often circulating around rural life and family values. Nearly all of the posters featured young men and women with vibrant expressions as they engage in numerous activities in their daily lives. Some had these people pledging their fidelity to Mao’s ideologies while others are devotedly working to rehabilitate their economy.
The posters above, for instance, depicts an agrarian life that is both fulfilling and joyous. The 1950 poster showing a family looking at each other with big smiles as a child waves the CPC flag and a picture of Mao looms behind in the background, reads in its overheard caption the following words: ‘The life of the peasants is good after Land Reform’. On the other side, a colorful and vibrant depiction of an industrial town shows its people living in complete harmony with enough harvests to supply their income and sustenance.
The color red was extensively used in these posters, symbolizing the colors present in the CPC flag. The poster titled Prosperity Brought by the Dragon and the Phoenix is a color enactment of agricultural life. It shows two motifs of the dragon and the phoenix materializing through the hard work of the farmers. The dragon maintains a traditional symbol in China and represents its life and culture while the phoenix is an undying bird with mighty powers, signifying good governance and everlasting strength.
The poster with the subheading ‘Fully Engage in the Movement to Increase Production and to Practice Economy to Set off a New Upsurge in Industrial Production’ shows a group of engineers and technicians in the foreground alongside their materials. They look off beyond the level of the picture, almost as if they can see the future fruition of their hard work.
Perhaps the most well-known poster of all time is one which shows Mao over mass rallies, looking over a proud expression as his face radiates from the sun above him. The rallies depict people either dancing or chanting, making them models of the actual Mao cultists during the Cultural Revolution. One of the posters even reads ‘Turn grief into strength, carry our Chairman Mao’s behests and carry the proletarian revolutionary cause through to the end.’
Propaganda Posters: An Endless Reminder of Tragedy and Reformation
The posters were well-received because of its vibrant colors, encouraging dialogues, and often misinformed ideas about a new and prosperous life. Many artists were enforced to draw images that heroized Mao and depicted him as the great savior. However, his death has allowed a few artists to share in the truth where Shaomin Li, a prominent Chinese artist, an economist who had drawn countless posters, states, ‘Under Mao, the main task of art is to depict and glorify him and other revolutionary heroes … but one small mistake might have sent me away … to be guarded in detention for desecrating Mao’s god-like image.’
Llyod DeWitt, the chief curator of Chrysler Museum, adds in that ‘(Dictatorship) destroys the past and plays on fear and emotion, as well as identity.’ While countless people had suffered from their lives under Mao’s rule, the remaining propaganda art that we have today should be a reminder of how art can be used to both supplement and belittle power and authority.