Tractor Girls, Sparrow Fighting & Birth Control: What Chinese Posters Can Tell You

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Chinese propaganda painting is a unique page in history. Someone may consider the pictures created in the style of socialist realism, sugary and deceitful, someone is nostalgic, recalling a bygone era, but both of them will undoubtedly agree that this section of art can tell us a lot about the history of the huge ideological brother of the USSR … Posters were a real weapon for the leaders of the country, therefore, for example, in the 60s and 70s they were stamped like shells during the war - in several shifts, without rest, attracting soldiers, workers and peasants to work.

The history of Chinese political posters began much earlier than the era of socialist conquests, because Nianhua, Chinese folk popular prints, are considered their prototype. They were very popular with ordinary residents of the Middle Kingdom back in the 19th century, although they appeared much earlier. But it was in the century before last that these simple plot pictures began to acquire political meaning. So, for example, they reflected the attitude of the people to the Christianization of China:

By the middle of the 20th century, the state completely took control of such an important propaganda sphere. It was officially decided (at the Yan'an Conference in 1942) that traditional graphics would serve common purposes, and from an artistic point of view, a course towards socialist realism was determined. Of course, many of the themes and general style were borrowed in part from the Soviet Union. However, it should be noted that in most posters, especially in the early periods, graphic identity is very noticeable. Compared to similar designs created in the same period in the USSR, Chinese posters look less formulaic. Sometimes they amaze with their thoughtfulness and variety of images. For whatever their creators were agitating, most of them were drawn clearly "with a soul", and not according to a stencil, and this, undoubtedly, captivates.

Very often girls and their participation in the life of the country became the theme of the posters. According to the Chinese agitators, women in the eastern villages, no worse than the Russians, could plow, shoot, and handle iron horses.

However, people born in the USSR cannot be surprised with such a theme. But among the Chinese posters there are also very peculiar ones, reflecting the local flavor and history of the country with its problems and excesses. One of these topics was, of course, birth control. This poster from the period of the Cultural Revolution promotes the state task "One family - one child." The woman is holding a family planning aid in one hand and a bottle of birth control pills in the other.

And on the next poster, children are performing another important task set by the state for the people, they are fighting against field pests - sparrows. Judging by the environmental catastrophe that broke out in China and the massive purchases of sparrows from Russia and Canada, propaganda posters were extremely effective.

The Chinese agitation paid much attention to the family, nevertheless, the importance of this unit of society was understood and highly appreciated in all countries! Moreover, in earlier examples, you can see traditional large families. After the 70s, in similar pictures, happy parents were always depicted with one offspring.

The campaign materials look very cute, showing that Chinese women can afford a lot of beautiful clothes, but their innate thrift and rationality makes them take care of things. By the way, after the global littering of most modern wardrobes, such a sensible idea today finds supporters in not so totalitarian countries.

A story about Chinese art propaganda would certainly not be complete without mentioning one person. During the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), posters became Mao's way of fighting political opponents. The stylistic canon defined "red, bright, brilliant" as the personification of party ideology, health and strength of the population. The main theme of the propaganda pictures was the First Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China himself and his quotation book - a book in a red cover, with which, judging by the posters, the workers did not part and read it at any free moment, looking up from the machine or the same tractor.

Well, the poster that tells about the achievements of the Chinese industry looks really visionary: "Our products are bought all over the world."