Engendering Modern China: Visual Representations of the PRC

Propaganda posters have been one of many forms of political media used by modern governments such as the United States, Russia, England, and China, to spread a message across a large area to a wide audience. The popularity of the use of propaganda posters has sparked an interest in the study of posters. China has a long and varied history of the use of posters and propaganda posters. Pre-1949 propaganda posters, especially during the revolutionary period, used woodblock prints with stark lines and deep bright colors. Woodblock prints often employed yellow and red backgrounds to accent the black figures in the poster. In the early 1950s bright colors and realistic scenes and figures reminiscent of the previous generation of calendar posters were common. The influence of idealism can be seen in the larger-than-life industrial production and farming scenes and the healthy and Chinese citizens in the posters. The 1960s continued many of the same techniques of the 1950s but displayed a less obvious visual connection with calendar posters. Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) posters saw a dramatic artistic shift. Figures became less realistic looking and bright colors and intricate scenes were replaced with simple and clear backgrounds and messages. The Cultural Revolution also saw the return of the woodblock print; this time period produced many visually interesting red and black woodblock print posters. In recent years, the changing artistic techniques of propaganda posters as well as themes and subjects have attracted much scholarly research. Yet despite the long history of such art, most scholars have focused either on calendar posters of the Republican era or the Cultural Revolution posters. Although one could argue that these two time periods represent two different ends of the spectrum of poster arts, in reality the greatest number of extant posters—and therefore part of the scholarly archive—come from these two time periods. As more collectors begin to showcase and share posters from early post-liberation China, scholars have begun to take an interest in studying posters of the post-liberation period. The period between 1949 and 1957 is unique in its situation between the conflict period of Guomindang versus the Communist Party, and later the Cultural Revolution period. This transitional period presents a unique look into the emerging China. Despite the scholarly attractiveness of this period, to date little research has been conducted on posters of this time period.