Tuesday, 7/31, afternoon session - Clay Dube, USC

[Shad Springer]

Well stated, Zoey. I agree with your analysis completely. The only thing I might speculate on is the time period, which I think could have been at any time during the Cold War. As a propaganda piece, the Chinese government wanted its people to believe that the rest of the world was united behind them--and, indeed, the Caucasian and African men are set back from the Chinese character, who is the leader--under the guiding influence of Communism. The message would have been: don't worry, everyone is with us. And don't even think about questioning Communism. 

[Martin Castillo]

This poster has a completely red background. The central figure is a woman dressed in homemaker attire. She is flanked by four images. In one image she is sitting down at night reading and studying, I assume by the color of the books on her desk, state approved doctrine. Her motherly duties include balancing work with keeping healthy and fit by finding time to exercise with her daughter. She is also responsible for educating her daughter about the history of the Chinese people by showing her the shambles people were in and how destitute they were, assumingly, before the revolution. However, the most important image is on the right: as a communist Han Chinese her duty is to work for the Motherland by helping make machines that will help the country. In addition, by helping the PRC become more industrial it helps the minorities who happen to be dancing, singing, performing, etc pointing to the Red Sun as if saying "thank you" to Mao. Though in this image it seems that the minorities are incapable of producing workers themselves-they are satisfied with their current situation. 

My initial interpretation of this poster was that it had to do something with staying healthy in order to help the advancement of the Motherland by reading party doctrine, taking care of family, etc. by taking vitamins or some sort or birth control. By doing so she can accomplish and be successful in doing the things the images around her show she can. She is holding up half the sky. 

[Jessica Rodarte]

Poster number 2 contains some canonical symbols and themes in Chinese art:

• Figures: Workers, Soldier, Peasants
• Books: Mao
• The use of red to symbolize Communism
• Theme: Communism as progress created by the work of laborers, soldiers, and peasants.  This is exhibited by the bridge and the neat and put together look of the "workers, soldier, peasants".

[Jessica Rodarte]

I think this poster is about the  spread of communism.  You see three figures clearly exemplifying: European/Americans, Asians, and Africans.  Because they are standing with the backdrop of the world, I can assume that this is pointing to the goal/future of the expansion of communism.  They are all holding Mao's Book and they all stand proudly representing the ability of communism to increase patriotism and nationalism while serving as a unifying force for countries around the world.  This spread of Communism will bring about equality among the races, while acknowledging that China was at the forefront of this expansion.  You can assume this through the positioning of the figures.

[Jessica Rodarte]

Perhaps, step one would be to figure out the conventions/canons of Chinese Posters.  Once the kids understand how to read Chinese Posters, they could be instructed to create a canon for American posters as a class and a list of American values.  Different groups can then be assigned the different values and using the class canon for American Posters, they could create their posters.  Their classmates can then try to read the poster without the help of the creators.  Once the creaters lead the discussion on their poster, they can share with the class their use of the canon and the meaning and "directive" of their posters.  (Hope that helps.)

[Jess Meyer]

This image is showing foreigners posing with two Chinese people.  The body language and facial expressions are relaxed and friendly.  Red, as always, is a color that appears on the text, the tractors and one of the guest's clothing.  The tractor is interesting -- I cannot tell if the Chinese people are purchasing the tractors or showing them off.  I would assume this was during the period of the four modernizations because of the presence of the tractors and of the foreigners.

[Jennifer Place]

The center is filled with a woman holding a small book or pamphlet in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other.  She is wearing an apron and a cap and she is smiling warmly.  Around her are smaller illustrations that all include children.  On the left a father teaches his daughter a history lesson while viiting a monument or sculpture.  Also on the left a father works at a desk while the mother exercises outside with her daughter.   To the right of the woman it looks like a woman welding? and another woman teaching dance and music to a group of children in colorful costume?  Mao's image is at the bottom of the poster and is quite small.  There is some sort of crane or other mechanical item that I cannot identify. Everybody looks happy.  I'm not sure if the pills are birth control or vitamins but clearly they are somehow responsible for the happiness. 

[Aileen Level]

Poster #2 includes the typical red imagery, Little Red Books, and emphasis on the soldiers and workers that we've seen in other posters. The large size of the bridge, which dominates the poster, makes me suspect that this image glorifies the technological advances and engineering in China at the time -- and probably also praises the workers who constructed it.

[Aileen Level]

While I couldn't have guessed from just looking at this image, having the text translated in class helped me identify this situation. These children are serving the nation -- with the boy wearing his Young Pioneers red scarf -- by killing sparrows. The birds were seen as a threat to the food supply because they ate seeds. 

I learned about this history from reading the family memoir "Wild Swans: 3 Daughters of China" by Jung Chang. The author tells her own story as well of those of her mother and grandmother, and it includes this situation.  The book was very helpful to read because it described people's first-hand experiences of the policies put into place in communist China, from sparrow killing and suffering sessions to restrictions on clothing. I'd recommend reading it.

[Juan Liebana-Mena]

The afternoon lecture and activity by Professor Dube were really engaging. The selection of posters and imagery were very entertaining, symbolic, and informative. What I liked most about this lecture is how interactive Dr. Dube was with us. We all had the opportunity to discuss the posters and identify recurrent themes and symbols. I think this is a great way to instill curiosity in my students and have them infer many values and ideas from the pictures that accompany the texts in the English Language Arts textbook.

Many of these posters were essential in order to understand the communist propaganda machine. All of them depicted leaders as very close to the people, which were illustrated with picture of children and average people.

The reform era posters offered a new style and lots of symbolism. The poster of the little girl with her mother is quite interesting. She was playing a violin, which is a quite western instrument, but there was also a panda teddy bear next to her to highlight the Chinese culture element. Also, the posters with the brother and sister with the computer during the technological ear and the ones with the boys surrounded by rockets and space imagery were very interesting to highlight the focus on science that was now recurrent in China.

The 1980’s posters also offered a shift in the themes and aesthetics from the previous ones. The propaganda effort of those posters addressed the common issue of an aging population that faced at that point in time. I can see many of the familial values such as reciprocity in these posters. The paintings from the 24 filial exemplars convey that idea of how to take care of your family. This notion of making sacrifices for the older generation seems very profound in these posters and period.

 

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

Standford History Education Group, SHEG, has a lesson on China's Cultural Revolution https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/chinas-cultural-revolution

Prior to this lesson, I give a basic overview of the Great Leap Forward through a 10 minute lecture. For the remainder of class, students conduct a gallery walk of images from the period. The theme of the gallery walk is propaganda. Students analyze both propaganda images and "real" images from the Great Leap Forward and its aftermath. The posters provided here can be used for a similar gallery walk because the overarching question is: what can propaganda tell us about a country in history (contextualization)? How do propaganda images reflect the goals or outcomes of _______ (event). 

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

Standford History Education Group, SHEG, has a lesson on China's Cultural Revolution https://sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/chinas-cultural-revolution

Prior to this lesson, I give a basic overview of the Great Leap Forward through a 10 minute lecture. For the remainder of class, students conduct a gallery walk of images from the period. The theme of the gallery walk is propaganda. Students analyze both propaganda images and "real" images from the Great Leap Forward and its aftermath. The posters provided here can be used for a similar gallery walk because the overarching question is: what can propaganda tell us about a country in history (contextualization)? How do propaganda images reflect the goals or outcomes of _______ (event). 

[Juan Liebana-Mena]

This poster really called my attention because of the distribution of the flags and its aesthetics. This is quite powerful in terms of colors and symmetry. It's intersting to see the Soviet and Chinese flags first, which highlights their leadership within the communist countries, the tower and the star at the very top full of gold color and glow to convey the idea of glory and majesty. What I found most interesting about the post is the fact that it includes the German flag. This reveals that this poster is probably from a post World War II, when east Germany was under Soviet control. It's interesting how they decided to include the flag even thought they technically only controlled half of the country. This reveals their unapologetic notion of power and confidence. 

[Midori Sanchez]

This poster centers around the power of the parents but mainly the focus and responsibility on women/mothers especially as she is pictured front and centera and is the largest image. She looks approachable as she has a healthy look in her face (her cheeks are rosy and she is smiling; looks happy) and she is dresed as if she is ready to work (she has a collared dress with a starched apron). She is a "good worker" since she has the Red Book in her hand for reference. However, in her other hand she has contraceptive pills to show that she is not only doing her part in the home but also as a woman in not adding to the danger of the growing population. 

 

Although she is dressed to take care of the home, the mother also seems to be in the distance making sure she is taking care of the children and ensuring that they are well rounded i.e. visiting museums. There is a need for balance in the household in the duties of being mentally and physically strong to not let down the country nor your children/family. 

 

An interesting part of the piece that I noticed is the realism in the middle of the photo and the more cartoon/animated/minimalist look of the pictures in the background. Therefore, the woman looks as if her photo has been cut out and pasted onto the piece.

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

I'm not sure if this image depicts foreigners visiting China to sight see, or if this is a political delegation. Due to the many women in the image, I assume it is depicting tourism or possibly Africans in China.The image celebrates farming as the visitors pose for a photograph in front of farming equipment. They seem to be receiving a tour of farming technology. I'm curious about the historical context of this image and what time period it is from. 

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