A massive propaganda effort paralleled the Chinese Communist Party’s institutional reconstruction. Most of this propaganda took the form of posters that served to inspire Chinese citizens about the success of communism and the East. They included artwork of bountiful fields, fat livestock, smiling workers eating in communal mess halls, and even epics of Chinese people crossing oceans. Each of these posters work to reinforce ideals of communalism and to build national pride.
Food1The captions are translations of the Chinese characters on each poster.
Each of the food-centered posters above clearly displays healthy produce, strong workers, and an abundance of grain. They also often show a strong link between steel production and grain production, an attempt to pair Chinese steel efforts with food despite the fact that these were often deleterious to agriculture. Finally, the text in these posters often markets the People’s Communes as places in which there were an abundance of food and resources for everyone. This is highlighted in the third poster, which reads, “The communes are big, the people numerous, the natural resources abundant, it is easy to develop a diversified economy.”2“The communes are big, the people numerous, the natural resources abundant, it is easy to develop a diversified economy,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/d25-138. By portraying the excess of food with a smiling farmer, the CCP promotes the image that the abundance of resources were invested back into rural communities.
This was a centerpiece of the communist dream and represents the ideological commitment of the Chinese Communist Party: representation and support for those who have been historically marginalized. Even simple features of these posters, such as the Chinese workers conducting varying jobs shown in the fourth image, uphold the image of Communist China as a place where all citizens were valued and significant.
Community3The captions are translations of the Chinese characters on each poster.
The propaganda posters that depict flourishing People’s Communes do so, once again, by highlighting an abundance of food, especially in mess halls. The sixth poster, with the text, “When the dining hall is well-run, the production spirit will increase,” argues for the strength of the communist system in which dedicated cooks make food for the entire community, therefore freeing up more time for farmers to spend out in the fields. This highlights the importance of specialized workers and how a successful communist society functions when every person has their specific task at which they excel.
The poster of Chinese citizens on the ocean is an allegory to the Daoist mythology of the Eight Immortals who “crossed the sea using their ‘power tools.’”4Wang Liuying et al., “Brave the wind and the waves, everything has remarkable abilities,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/pc-1958-024. Drawing connections between religious mythology and national ideals both legitimized the Great Leap Forward and built implicit support for it within Chinese citizens. There is no better way to inspire an entire generation for communalism than to tap into their roots by painting modern society in the image of’ mythology in which eight deities “[show] off their skills and expertise to achieve a common goal.”5Wang Liuying et al., “Brave the wind.”
Miscellaneous6The captions are translations of the Chinese characters on each poster.
These final two posters tap into the most salient aspects of Chinese propaganda during the Great Leap Forward. The first depicts one young child with a drawn slingshot and another with a dead sparrow in their hand. Sparrows were one of the pests that the Chinese Communist Party encouraged citizens to kill in an attempt to save grain stores; promoting the image of children killing them both played into the narratives of communalism from the earliest of ages and that the cause of low grain production stemmed from natural origins rather than governmental negligence. The second poster utilizes the traditional Chinese symbols of the dragon and phoenix, which represent China and good governance, respectively.7Jiang Mi, “Prosperity brought by the dragon and the phoenix,” Chongqing renmin chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/e16-340. By tying modern-day China to its historical and mythological roots, the CCP gained validity in the eyes of its citizens.
The most intriguing element of these propaganda posters is their genuineness. Often, the images of successful People’s Communes or smiling workers seem like idealistic portrayals by artists rather than intentional propaganda efforts. And in many ways, that sincerity reflects the emotional environment in China; most citizens were strong believers in the CCP and the instatement of communism. Thus, to some degree, it is fair to observe these posters as both a concerted propaganda effort and a window into the mindset of many Chinese communist advocates.
Poster 1,8Zeng Chaohua, “The melons are sweet, grain and rice are fragrant, everybody tries the flavor,” Sichuan renmin chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/d25-144. Poster 2,9“Develop industrial and agricultural production, realize the simultaneous development of industry and agriculture,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/d25-136. Poster 3,10“The communes are big, the people numerous, the natural resources abundant, it is easy to develop a diversified economy,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/d25-138. Poster 4,11Du Qi, “Start the movement to increase production and practise thrift, with foodstuffs and steel at the center, with great force!” Chongqing renmin chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/e15-614. Poster 5,12Shen Lin, Zhang Hanyi, and Lu Xingchen, “Getting organised is boundlessly good. Collective life brings a lot of happiness,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/gallery/e16-41. Poster 6,13Hu Yuelong, “When the dining hall is well-run, the production spirit will increase,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/gallery/e15-829. Poster 7,14Zhang Yuqing, “The future of the rural village,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/pc-1958-014. Poster 8,15Wang Liuying et al., “Brave the wind and the waves, everything has remarkable abilities,” Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/pc-1958-024. Poster 9,16Bi Cheng, “Everybody comes to beat sparrows,” accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/gallery/e12-901. Poster 10.17Jiang Mi, “Prosperity brought by the dragon and the phoenix,” Chongqing renmin chubanshe, accessed December 20, 2020, https://chineseposters.net/posters/e16-340.