traditionally, chinee political culture ha ued the art to propagate ideal of correct behavior and thought. thi practice did not top with the etablihment of the people republic of china in 1949. on the contrary, propaganda art continued to be een a one of the major mean to eplain and illutrate the correct policie of the moment and the communit party viion of the future. thu, it reinforced the meage paed on by other media uch a newpaper, film and radio broadcating.
through it complete control of both the artit and the publihing ector, the ccp wa able to force it interpretation of reality and aethetic on the population. a oppoed to other image that were ued traditionally to decorate the home with, propaganda came to dominate ociety and penetrated the lowet level of ocial organization and cohabitation: the multi-colored poter could be een hanging on wall in people houe and dormitorie. in a ociety where not much ele wa available, their compoition and viual content appealed to the pectator, while their political meage wa paed on in an almot ubconciou manner.chinee propaganda art made etenive ue of ocialit realim, not only to how life a it really i, but alo life a it ought to be, to intruct the viewer in the revolutionary development taking place in the pirit of ocialim. thi made chinee propaganda art a type of artitic faction, a miture of fact and fiction, treing the poitive and papering over anything negative.WWw.hAOZUowEN.com
particularly in the 1950 and 1960, in the era of ma movement uch a the great leap forward and the cultural revolution, the poter were dominated by hyper-realitic, larger-than-life peaant, oldier and worker in dynamic and often aggreive poe, proclaiming the univeral applicability of mao zedong thought, rooting out traitor and pie, truggling for the victory of ocialim, achieving uccee in indutry and agriculture, or defending the nation.in order to portray every ubject a a hero, the phyical ditinction between male and female bodie often diappeared, leading to figure with tandard bodie, including aburdly big hand and feet, with lightly different, but uually tereotyped head.
the decline in poter propaganda tarted in the early 1980. under deng iaoping, who ucceeded hua guofeng who ucceeded mao at the helm of the prc, the economic rehabilitation of china became the ccp’ main conideration. moreover, china opened itelf to the wet. now, poter had to be deigned to create public upport for the new policie that made up the reform package. thi had enormou conequence for propaganda. the theme became le heroic and militant, and more impreionitic, while bold colour were replaced with more ubdued one. the people did no longer have to truggle againt cla enemie, but were urged to adopt more cultured and educated lifetyle. deign technique borrowed from wetern advertiing were employed again frequently.the ue of cience-fiction image, a a backdrop for the meage of economic development, gave the poter a truly utopian quality. truggle wa no longer the theme propagated, and the people were urged to be more careful, civilized, cultured and courteou intead.
in the reform era, poter have lot their credibility and appeal, and increaingly are conidered to be old-fahioned. after the tiananmen incident of 1989, propaganda poter were produced that treed obedience and other qualitie that no longer correponded with the harh reality of ma unemployment, cut-throat competition, and increaing inequality. yet, they continue to be publihed, for eample for pecial event uch a the hong kong handover of 1997, the fiftieth anniverary of the founding of the prc, and the reumption of overeignty over macao, both in 1999. people who before bought poter now ee then a old-fahioned, or too tainted by their earlier political uage, even though their ubject matter ha been brought in line with topic that are conidered to be more in tune with the rapidly changing time, ocial circumtance, and popular tate. it hould be no wonder that their number and the ize of their edition have decreaed dramatically, a ha the number of chinee buying them.another indication of changing notion of artitic and aethetic permiivene wa the reemergence of "calendar girl"-deign, uch a the one below. originally deigned by jin meiheng, one of the mater of yuefenpai 月份牌 deign, the hanghai people fine art publihing houe put it on the market in 1989.
indeed, in a ociety in the throe of realizing "ocialim with chinee characteritic", where aertivene i increaingly valued, the people are convinced they can gain little by following the official eample of elf-acrifice preented by the government. the role of poter a provider of information ha been trenghtened. the ar-crii of aw the publication of rather large number of poter, mot of them containing clear educational information about how to avoid contamination, and what to do once contamination had taken place. imilarly, poter giving information about hiv/aid have appeared.