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

[Ruth Hickman]

A group of different military branches all celebrating together their government and success of building a bridge for their country and their people in the background cheering them on.

 

[Ruth Hickman]

I think this poster depicts Africans taking a tour of a Chinese factory and they are happy about the partnership and future of working together to grow their economies.

 

[Ruth Hickman]

I see all of the flags of Communist countries united together under a shining bright star as if Communism is the way!

[Nira Sun]

Hi Carissa,

I’m impressed with how close you got to the purpose of this poster. You also brought up a good point regarding the gun, knife, and note. The guy in brown is actually a criminal. He was being persuaded by his relatives in the first picture. As he was sitting there, his wife standing next to him and trying to talk him through. Of course, in the second picture, he decided to turned himself in as he accepted the consequence of his behavior. Hence the gun and knife. Basically this poster meant to encourage citizens to talk to their relatives who have committed crimes so that criminals can turn themselves in to authorities where they can get help.

 

[Nira Sun]

Since I am able to read Chinese in the posters, I think I will discuss something else in this post. After learning about the soft power from Dr. Rosen’s class, I wonder are these posters considered as soft power or hard power? They all have very explicit information to either promote certain values or encourage citizens to behave in certain ways. In terms of comparing cultures, I’m also wondering if we have anything similar in American. Are these posters function in the similar way as the ones we teachers post in our classrooms?  We call them visual enforcement, don’t we?

 

[Daniel Horowitz]

The background pictures are more cartoonish in approach. I see a mother and her daughter engaged in exercise and statue appreciation. There are people in folk costume depicted- perhaps a reference to the many ethnicities living in China. There is some reference to science and manufacturing. The forground figure, far more realisticlly depicted (the artist may have worked from photographs), shows a woman holding uo her propaganda book while holding a medicinal bottle in her other hand. My first guess is that she has vitamins or herbs, but others have suggested this may be birth control.

[Carissa Sadlier]

Workers, peasants, soldiers reading from the little red book, smiles and jubilation. In the background is a bridge that looks as if it was just completed. I would say that the people are celebrating China's strong economics through the creation of this architecture, which is doubly important as it serves as a symbol for the growth of transportation. 

 

[Daniel Horowitz]

So the boy is serving the nation by killing the "pest" that is eating the seeds of the people, and the girl is serving the cause by collecting the dead birds and tying them together. Are the dead birds an artistic convention so we can see the target of the boy's slingshot, or is the girl retrieving the bodies for proper burial, or is there some other functional (perhaps culinary) use for the dead birds? The heavy use of DDT on crops in the US during the post-WWII period affected bird populations as well. The 1950s was not a good time for birds. Sadly the sheer mismanagement of both the economy and environment in China led to millions of human deaths as well.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

I really like this poster.  Its focus on an energized, strong and healthy youth moves me and I find it attractive and inspiring.  The poster's focal image is clearly three young people; 2 girls and 1 boy, pointing to the fact that this image is not meant to target a specific gender but all youth, recruiting all for a cause.  They are all steadfastly running a race and their resolve, perseverance, strength and eagerness is visible on their facial expression.  Without being able to read the Chinese characters, I can only guess at what the message of this poster is but this is not hard to figure out.  The images here are meant to mobilize young people to action, to inspire them to join the revoutionary cause. The fact that these young people are running together as in an army rather than individually suggests that they are to train and be healthy for the good of the country and not individual benefit.  Hence the message is unity and the collective good rather that individualism.  As in most posters, these young patriots are looking forward with resolution and strength, suggesting that the cause is worth their time and energy and that they are an integral part of its future as the youth is the future of China, as it is of any country.  In my opinion, the depiction of youth in this way is effective and illicits an emotive respone.  Another feature that stand out is the use of the color red in this image, suggesting that the time period of this poster would be late 1960's to early 1970's as this is the time of the Cultural Revolution.

[Natali Ramon]

I can’t read Chinese, but I can assume this image shows tourists or a delegation from Africa visiting China.  It is clear that the delegation is visiting China because of the Chinese characters in the background.  Additionally, there seems to be tractors in the background and I assume the purpose of this visit is to show China’s progress and technology. The image shows a lot of colors and the smiling faces of both the visitors and the hosts and this conveys the positivity of China’s interaction with other countries.  I can infer that it also shows China’s inclination to share its ideas and technology with other countries. Since the workers are prominently featured, I can assume this image was created during the Cultural Revolution.

 

[Juan Liebana-Mena]

I agree. At first, I too thought the main idea behind the poster was to portrait the Chinese as the leader or most powerful of the three characters. However, it was Mao's book being held by all three that revealed this idea of expansion of communism. I think it is a very powerful poster in order to show Chinese citizens of the power of communisism and how even foreign societies and other ethnicities are embracing communism and ready to fight for it. I also found key the fact that the three men protrayed are not soldiers but workers. This conveys the idea that every person is a soldier of the nation and that it's everyone's role to fight and work for communism success. 

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Natali, I agree with your observation that this image was created during the Cultural Revolution, around the late 1960's to early 1970's.  The smiling faces of the workers and bright colors along with the red tractors are reminiscent of the propaganda produced at this time.  As you mention, the workers are in a prominent role in the image as are the tractors which symbolize the new technology that will catapult China into a new and modern era.  What stands out to me in this image is the inclusion of the foreign Africans and how a close and friendly relationship is established between them and the Chinese workers.  The inclusion of foreigners surprised me initially but as I thought about this, it provided me with a clue as to the message of this image.  While I do not read Chinese, I can guess that the purpose of this propaganda poster is to depict a modern China that is forward looking and welcoming of foreigners with an eye on diplomacy and economics.  It establishes China as a progressive country ready to do business and establish positive relationships with other countries, particularly Africa.  Both the Chinese and the Africans seem to embrace the tractor suggesting that both countries can benefit from this technology.  The image portrays an alliance between these two nations and a China that is both receptive to foreigners and is well received by foreigners.  

[Kim Leng]

In the foreground, there are three children running in unison with other children behind them. The boy is wearing a military looking outfit.  I see that their arms are raised, leveled to their hearts, with a closed fist of the revolution.  They look determined in their commitment to the cause.  I think the message here is that your individual body is an extension of the state’s body so in order to do your duty for the state, one must make certain to exercise and keep the engine of progress active.

The color red stands out in this poster with red flags next to a building.  There are red armbands and red scarves, as well as a whole section of people next to the building in red.   Children seem to play an important role in this and the little red figures next to the building may be the Red Guards.  Red is the color of the Chinese Revolution and the Chinese flag.  I estimate this poster to be late 1960s or early 1970s.

[Stella Castro]

I’m sorry and ashamed to admit that I do not know much about the Asian culture much less propaganda posters, so to me I see an Idyllic  family looking towards something admirable as their facial expressions look happy and in awe. It seems as if the family has its one child policy in effect, (the girl), as I cannot count the soldier being their son, as he looks older than the dad, or maybe the dad is actually the son, (I’m thinking), but hard to say. Anyhow in the background I can see worker maybe, Hard to tell and I o see the red star, (communist ideology), and the color of red throughout the poster, symbolizing luck, and good fortune.  However, upon researching the meaning of the poster, I came to find out this poster, represents  a firm support in the dealings of an illegal; organization, called Falun Gong, which is a Buddhist mediation doctrine that is banned, but belive in achieving spiritual enlightenment, maybe that is why the people in the poster all look so happy, and enlightened already.

[Stella Castro]

This poster is a reminder to Asians to utilize birth control, as with the times changing more and younger Asians believe and are exercising the fact that premarital sex is okay. So this poster was used to remind them to use birth control. I assume the bottle the woman is holding in her hand represents the “Birth control pills”, I do not know what the package represents, but as I am writing this, it occurs to me that , the package must be a condom, (although quite big), or maybe it is not a condom package, but an IUD contraception package, as  I read  that it was once, (20 years ago), if one visited rural villages , one could see phrases such as, “If you have one IUD please, if you have two sterilization please”. * That is such a profound statement, but with so much truth stated in it, as The Chinese/Asian, countries are extremely populated, and at times the food is scarce for such an abundance of people. So to read this type of sayings in villages would make a lot of sense, so that is what this poster means. in the background one can see that it is depicting either a single person, (,male/female), being happy working or engaging in a favorite pastime with oneself, or being happy as a family with only one child, as there, “one child policy states”, and are abiding to and by it.  But it is also informing the people that one can have and be a happy family with just one child.

*slogan taken from article read on the USC China Institute webpage

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