Mao Zedong, since the official beginning of his rule in 1949 and beyond his death in 1976, is a massive cultural force in China, in addition to the political force he was meant to be. During his reign, he had impacted Chinese society that left irreversible changes on the social, cultural and political structure of China. Through Mao Zedong thought and the endless admiration that the people had for Mao Zedong, his name and person has manifested into a larger-than-life reputation, whose effects can still be seen in some aspects of Chinese society today. This exhibit will seek to reflect the massive cultural power of Mao Zedong through his portrayal in propaganda and other sources.
Notable within these examples of propaganda is the use of red in their motifs. The color red, initially considered to be lucky by Chinese tradition, was considered to be the color of communism, and was a subtle part of Chinese Communist propaganda that will be made note of multiple times within the exhibit.
Notable within these examples of propaganda is the use of red in their motifs. The color red, initially considered to be lucky by Chinese tradition, was considered to be the color of communism, and was a subtle part of Chinese Communist propaganda that will be made note of multiple times within the exhibit.
Scatter the old world, build the new world
![Picture](/uploads/7/4/8/4/74842977/7790358.jpg?312)
This poster was created by an unknown publisher and designer in 1967. Likely published and distributed in urban China, it is meant to encourage the destruction of the Four Olds of traditional Chinese culture. The Four Olds, which encompassed Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits and Old Ideas, were one of the main targets of the Cultural Revolution, and made up a significant amount of the violent acts committed during the Cultural Revolution. In the spirit of the Cultural Revolution, it was naturally aimed towards the youth, who were meant to be the vanguards of Communism and revolution in China and thus the driving force of the Cultural Revolution.
This document, like many others in this exhibit, is a propaganda poster, which was meant to encourage the youth to take part of the Cultural Revolution in a more radical and rebellious way. At this point, Mao Zedong had felt that the spirit of Communism had begun to dwindle within the People’s Republic of China, and something needed to be done to revitalise the spirit of Communism and revolution in China. In addition to Western influences on China, such as capitalism and luxurious lifestyles, it is apparent that the old cultural and religious traditions of China were considered to be antiquated and an impediment towards the modernisation of Chinese society, and direct action must be taken to remove these influences from China.
Along with the slogan “Scatter the Old World, build a New World, the poster features images of religious artifacts of Christianity and Buddhism, and various decadent plates and leisure items that are being smashed by a Red Guard. It is no surprise then, with the tendency of the youth to take literal meanings to Mao Zedong’s orders, that the ‘smashing of the Four Olds’ was literal, as well as metaphorical. A great deal of artifacts that were considered old, bourgeoisie or decadent were destroyed and outlawed by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, particularly between the more active years of 1966 and 1969.
It is not surprising that such a symbolically strong propaganda poster carries a great deal of weight in terms of its assumptions towards its target audience. As demonstrated by the inclusion of a large crowd in the background of the poster, it makes the assumption that all of those participating in the Red Guard and other related youth movements agreed with the destruction of religious artifacts, and that none of them had any particular affiliations with either Buddhism or Christianity that would find the destruction of religious items particularly sacrilegious.
Alongside the red schematic used in a majority of Cultural Revolution propaganda, this poster demonstrates the sheer cultural power of Mao Zedong over the Chinese. China’s 5000 years of entrenched and deep cultural traditions would likely leave the impression that the removal of cultural and religious tradition in China would be a long and arduous task. However, through the sheer force of will, demonstrated by the swift action carried out by the youth after the Cultural Revolution’s implementation in August of 1966, many rose to the task of the destruction and ban of the Four Olds in China.
This document, like many others in this exhibit, is a propaganda poster, which was meant to encourage the youth to take part of the Cultural Revolution in a more radical and rebellious way. At this point, Mao Zedong had felt that the spirit of Communism had begun to dwindle within the People’s Republic of China, and something needed to be done to revitalise the spirit of Communism and revolution in China. In addition to Western influences on China, such as capitalism and luxurious lifestyles, it is apparent that the old cultural and religious traditions of China were considered to be antiquated and an impediment towards the modernisation of Chinese society, and direct action must be taken to remove these influences from China.
Along with the slogan “Scatter the Old World, build a New World, the poster features images of religious artifacts of Christianity and Buddhism, and various decadent plates and leisure items that are being smashed by a Red Guard. It is no surprise then, with the tendency of the youth to take literal meanings to Mao Zedong’s orders, that the ‘smashing of the Four Olds’ was literal, as well as metaphorical. A great deal of artifacts that were considered old, bourgeoisie or decadent were destroyed and outlawed by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, particularly between the more active years of 1966 and 1969.
It is not surprising that such a symbolically strong propaganda poster carries a great deal of weight in terms of its assumptions towards its target audience. As demonstrated by the inclusion of a large crowd in the background of the poster, it makes the assumption that all of those participating in the Red Guard and other related youth movements agreed with the destruction of religious artifacts, and that none of them had any particular affiliations with either Buddhism or Christianity that would find the destruction of religious items particularly sacrilegious.
Alongside the red schematic used in a majority of Cultural Revolution propaganda, this poster demonstrates the sheer cultural power of Mao Zedong over the Chinese. China’s 5000 years of entrenched and deep cultural traditions would likely leave the impression that the removal of cultural and religious tradition in China would be a long and arduous task. However, through the sheer force of will, demonstrated by the swift action carried out by the youth after the Cultural Revolution’s implementation in August of 1966, many rose to the task of the destruction and ban of the Four Olds in China.
UNity amidst chaos
![Picture](/uploads/7/4/8/4/74842977/9735888.jpg?320)
This poster was created in 1968, by an anonymous publisher and designer. It was likely created somewhere in urban China, where much of the fervor of the Cultural Revolution among the youth took place. The poster argues that one ought to unite forces with all allies possible in order to defeat ‘class enemies’, which is one of the principle goals of the Cultural Revolution, using the 3 July and 24 July proclamations by Mao Zedong as the backer and inspiration for this movement. The intended audience is likely the urban youth that heavily idolised Mao Zedong in this period.
This document is political propaganda, created in order to encourage unity between radical forces instead of the divisions that began to form in this climate of political and cultural upheaval. At this point in time, out of admiration for Mao Zedong and the resulting political frenzy, groups of youths that were fighting against the intelligentsia, capitalist roaders and class enemies together initially, began to fragment and turn against each other, in the spirit of questioning all authority, as called for by Mao Zedong in the initial legislation that set the Cultural Revolution into motion. That propaganda calling for unity within these movements not two years after the Cultural Revolution began says much about the lack of control and uniformity in these movements.
Naturally, this kind of optimistic propaganda carries a lot of assumptions. One of the main assumptions that the document holds is the assumption of agreeing with Mao Zedong’s policies. While it is true that the general political climate in China did not allow for people to show even the slightest disagreement with Mao both as a political and cultural idol, it is worth nothing that in this poster, Mao is used as an assumed rallying point for positive political and cultural progress.
Given this highly exalted view of Mao, it is both easy and difficult to believe the message and intent of the document. While the endorsement of the message in the propaganda may be to Mao’s own benefit and thus the creation of this propaganda was encouraged, it is also equally as likely that a follower of Mao created this poster, leading to question the credibility of the statements. There were many instances during the Cultural Revolution of the deviation of the youth’s message from Mao’s original intent, as seen from the extensive and brutal use of violence against class and intellectual opponents during the campaigns. This is exemplified further by the lack of political context for both the divisions and the material referenced; only the reference to Mao is deemed necessary. Thus, this document is authentic as an aspect of culture surrounding Mao in this time period but not as a credible source of political realities in China.
As previously mentioned, Mao was a great political and cultural force during his time. This is evident in the propaganda analysed in this article. Mao is both used as a political anchor and a cultural icon. While nothing is said of what the 3 July and 24 July proclamations actually state (or are perceived to state), Mao is interpreted to say enough about the political context and acts as a rallying point for the intended audience. All of the people featured in this propaganda hold a little red book, and a picture of Mao’s face is shown, demonstrating the sheer impact of Mao as a cultural force.
This document is political propaganda, created in order to encourage unity between radical forces instead of the divisions that began to form in this climate of political and cultural upheaval. At this point in time, out of admiration for Mao Zedong and the resulting political frenzy, groups of youths that were fighting against the intelligentsia, capitalist roaders and class enemies together initially, began to fragment and turn against each other, in the spirit of questioning all authority, as called for by Mao Zedong in the initial legislation that set the Cultural Revolution into motion. That propaganda calling for unity within these movements not two years after the Cultural Revolution began says much about the lack of control and uniformity in these movements.
Naturally, this kind of optimistic propaganda carries a lot of assumptions. One of the main assumptions that the document holds is the assumption of agreeing with Mao Zedong’s policies. While it is true that the general political climate in China did not allow for people to show even the slightest disagreement with Mao both as a political and cultural idol, it is worth nothing that in this poster, Mao is used as an assumed rallying point for positive political and cultural progress.
Given this highly exalted view of Mao, it is both easy and difficult to believe the message and intent of the document. While the endorsement of the message in the propaganda may be to Mao’s own benefit and thus the creation of this propaganda was encouraged, it is also equally as likely that a follower of Mao created this poster, leading to question the credibility of the statements. There were many instances during the Cultural Revolution of the deviation of the youth’s message from Mao’s original intent, as seen from the extensive and brutal use of violence against class and intellectual opponents during the campaigns. This is exemplified further by the lack of political context for both the divisions and the material referenced; only the reference to Mao is deemed necessary. Thus, this document is authentic as an aspect of culture surrounding Mao in this time period but not as a credible source of political realities in China.
As previously mentioned, Mao was a great political and cultural force during his time. This is evident in the propaganda analysed in this article. Mao is both used as a political anchor and a cultural icon. While nothing is said of what the 3 July and 24 July proclamations actually state (or are perceived to state), Mao is interpreted to say enough about the political context and acts as a rallying point for the intended audience. All of the people featured in this propaganda hold a little red book, and a picture of Mao’s face is shown, demonstrating the sheer impact of Mao as a cultural force.
chairman mao's writings are like the sun
![Picture](/uploads/7/4/8/4/74842977/7384193.jpg?250)
This poster, captioned “Chairman Mao’s writings are like the sun,” was created by designers Fan Pu and Tang Dequan, and published by Sichuan renmin taiyang in 1964. The intended audience is not clear with this poster; one might assume that the poster was generally aimed towards the Chinese public, who were generally encouraged to take up the writings of Mao Zedong even prior to the Cultural Revolution. As indicated in the slogan, Mao Zedong’s writings are given high praises with its symbolic comparison to the sun, creating the image that these writings were a vital, important part of Chinese life, academic or otherwise.
This poster is likely meant to be propaganda, with its encouragement for the general public to partake in Mao Zedong’s political and academic thought as part of cultural literature in Maoist China. As previously mentioned, the poster was part of a larger narrative that began to idolise Mao during his reign, despite the catastrophic consequences of his prior political-economic experiments. This movement particularly rose in population during the years prior to and the Cultural Revolution itself, and was often referred to as ‘Mao Zedong thought.’ The creation of Mao Zedong thought is testament to the cultural power of Mao during the Cultural Revolution, as a strange simultaneous manifestation as a demi-god and a highly relatable person for the Chinese public.
The assumptions carried by this poster are highly visible, considering the factors of the importance of Mao Zedong in both China and the Cultural Revolution and the subsequent cult of personality that had clearly emerged in Maoist China. Although it is a minor observation, much of the Chinese population were peasants who may have not been able to read at all, and had to have things read to them, as seen by Wang Fucheng’s accounts of Maoist China in Throwing the Emperor from His Horse: Portrait of a Village Leader in China. In addition to this, the poster clearly presents the assumption that Mao Zedong thought, and his writings were already widely accepted throughout the Chinese public in order to present it in a more favourable light. Any disagreements with Mao’s writing, despite the call for the questioning of authority in the Hundred Flowers Movement and the Cultural Revolution, were likely not to be voiced in favour of the outright praise of Mao Zedong. This unyielding loyalty towards Mao demonstrates the cultural power of Mao during his reign in China.
This poster is likely meant to be propaganda, with its encouragement for the general public to partake in Mao Zedong’s political and academic thought as part of cultural literature in Maoist China. As previously mentioned, the poster was part of a larger narrative that began to idolise Mao during his reign, despite the catastrophic consequences of his prior political-economic experiments. This movement particularly rose in population during the years prior to and the Cultural Revolution itself, and was often referred to as ‘Mao Zedong thought.’ The creation of Mao Zedong thought is testament to the cultural power of Mao during the Cultural Revolution, as a strange simultaneous manifestation as a demi-god and a highly relatable person for the Chinese public.
The assumptions carried by this poster are highly visible, considering the factors of the importance of Mao Zedong in both China and the Cultural Revolution and the subsequent cult of personality that had clearly emerged in Maoist China. Although it is a minor observation, much of the Chinese population were peasants who may have not been able to read at all, and had to have things read to them, as seen by Wang Fucheng’s accounts of Maoist China in Throwing the Emperor from His Horse: Portrait of a Village Leader in China. In addition to this, the poster clearly presents the assumption that Mao Zedong thought, and his writings were already widely accepted throughout the Chinese public in order to present it in a more favourable light. Any disagreements with Mao’s writing, despite the call for the questioning of authority in the Hundred Flowers Movement and the Cultural Revolution, were likely not to be voiced in favour of the outright praise of Mao Zedong. This unyielding loyalty towards Mao demonstrates the cultural power of Mao during his reign in China.
chairman mao brings peace and prosperity
![Picture](/uploads/7/4/8/4/74842977/9948536.jpg?361)
This poster was designed by Xin Liliang, and was published by an unknown publisher in 1954. Titled ‘Chairman Mao gives us a happy life,’ the poster likely intends for the average Chinese citizen to be its target audience, portraying a scene of happy, tranquil homelife. Using this image of a spacious, well fed and well-off home, the poster argues that the policies and leadership of Mao Zedong lead the way to prosperity and modernity in Chinese homes. Whether or not this is factual is a different story.
This poster is likely propaganda, though it differs in style and aims from other posters created in Maoist China. The poster was likely created to support the CCP’s recent implementation of the First Five Year plan, based off of the Soviet model of industrialisation and with the assistance of Soviet technical advisors. Given this, it is clear that the promotion of the successes (in an albeit overly idealistic fashion) would prove to be beneficial to a government that highly depended on the power of the Chinese public, often solely on just sheer numbers to contribute to the plans of the CCP to modernise China under communism.
One of the main assumptions of the source lies in the portrayal of the family itself in the poster. It implies that all Chinese families, under the rule of Chairman Mao, already had their lives markedly improved in quality in under 5 years. This image of economic prosperity is demonstrated by the space in the household, the radio set, a table brimming with food and the healthy family that all sit happily around the table. This poster does not portray the political and economic realities of China, which showed that China’s peasant population remained in high amounts of destitution and poverty.
Despite the discrepancy between the reality and the idealised portrayal of Chinese households in early Maoist China, this poster displays both the current and future faith that the Chinese would hold for Mao. Here, he is portrayed as being primarily responsible for the economic success of China, despite the country electing to follow the ideology of Communism, where the contributions and power of each citizen is meant to be equal in contribution and importance. Without mentioning the methods with which Mao brought this prosperity to China to convince the reader of his merits, the viewer would already likely be convinced, purely by the astounding and unyielding reputation of Mao Zedong.
This poster is likely propaganda, though it differs in style and aims from other posters created in Maoist China. The poster was likely created to support the CCP’s recent implementation of the First Five Year plan, based off of the Soviet model of industrialisation and with the assistance of Soviet technical advisors. Given this, it is clear that the promotion of the successes (in an albeit overly idealistic fashion) would prove to be beneficial to a government that highly depended on the power of the Chinese public, often solely on just sheer numbers to contribute to the plans of the CCP to modernise China under communism.
One of the main assumptions of the source lies in the portrayal of the family itself in the poster. It implies that all Chinese families, under the rule of Chairman Mao, already had their lives markedly improved in quality in under 5 years. This image of economic prosperity is demonstrated by the space in the household, the radio set, a table brimming with food and the healthy family that all sit happily around the table. This poster does not portray the political and economic realities of China, which showed that China’s peasant population remained in high amounts of destitution and poverty.
Despite the discrepancy between the reality and the idealised portrayal of Chinese households in early Maoist China, this poster displays both the current and future faith that the Chinese would hold for Mao. Here, he is portrayed as being primarily responsible for the economic success of China, despite the country electing to follow the ideology of Communism, where the contributions and power of each citizen is meant to be equal in contribution and importance. Without mentioning the methods with which Mao brought this prosperity to China to convince the reader of his merits, the viewer would already likely be convinced, purely by the astounding and unyielding reputation of Mao Zedong.
mao zedong thought as the weapon to victoriously fight enemies at home and abroad
![Picture](/uploads/7/4/8/4/74842977/8979166.jpg?303)
This is a poster created by an unknown designer, published by Beijing United Printing Plant Revolutionary Rebels in 1967. Given the red motif and the inclusion of the Red Guard holding Mao’s Little Red Book, it is clear that the intended audience were the Red Guards themselves, and other affiliated and prospective revolutionary youths in Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution. With the slogan, “Mao Zedong Thought is the magic weapon to victoriously combat all enemies at home and abroad!”, the poster argues that the method to destroying capitalism, Western ideals, ‘capitalist roaders’ and outdated Chinese traditions and ideals was to rely on Mao Zedong thought and the affiliated writings.
This poster is a very highly politically charged propaganda piece created by Red Guards. It was likely created not only to advertise and advocate for the spread of Mao Zedong thought, but to further encourage the use of academic and political debate to combat the perceived social ills of China, as opposed to the use of physical force and intimidation. In light of the unstable politics in Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution, the poster was likely an attempt to remind and re-instill the original sentiment of the Cultural Revolution, with the rallying point of Mao Zedong thought.
This highly politically charged discourse carries over into the implicit assumptions of the document. As previously mentioned, Mao Zedong thought is the main rallying point in this document, which lends itself to the assumption that the Chinese public all agreed with and took the same political and cultural importance of Mao and Mao Zedong thought. In addition to this, the poster makes the assumption that the viewer knows of the figured that are falling on the left side of the poster. Featured were current president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, recent party members of the CCP that were considered to be traitors to the party and ‘capitalist roaders’, Alexei Kosygin, a political leader of the Soviet Union that is depicted as a representative for the Sino-Soviet split and Chiang Kai-Shek, the previous leader of the Kuomintang party. If the viewer had no knowledge of these people or the politics surrounding them, the message behind this poster would become highly diluted and superficial.
Even if its audience was unaware or uncaring of the political context surrounding the creation of this poster, the sheer rallying power of Mao was clearly intended to bring the point home in encouraging the use and spread of Mao Zedong thought. Setting aside the need for a reduction in text on posters in order to keep the attention of the viewer, the fact that only Mao Zedong thought was needed to be mentioned explicitly in order to carry on the intended message of the poster speaks to the kind of impact Mao had on China.
This poster is a very highly politically charged propaganda piece created by Red Guards. It was likely created not only to advertise and advocate for the spread of Mao Zedong thought, but to further encourage the use of academic and political debate to combat the perceived social ills of China, as opposed to the use of physical force and intimidation. In light of the unstable politics in Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution, the poster was likely an attempt to remind and re-instill the original sentiment of the Cultural Revolution, with the rallying point of Mao Zedong thought.
This highly politically charged discourse carries over into the implicit assumptions of the document. As previously mentioned, Mao Zedong thought is the main rallying point in this document, which lends itself to the assumption that the Chinese public all agreed with and took the same political and cultural importance of Mao and Mao Zedong thought. In addition to this, the poster makes the assumption that the viewer knows of the figured that are falling on the left side of the poster. Featured were current president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, recent party members of the CCP that were considered to be traitors to the party and ‘capitalist roaders’, Alexei Kosygin, a political leader of the Soviet Union that is depicted as a representative for the Sino-Soviet split and Chiang Kai-Shek, the previous leader of the Kuomintang party. If the viewer had no knowledge of these people or the politics surrounding them, the message behind this poster would become highly diluted and superficial.
Even if its audience was unaware or uncaring of the political context surrounding the creation of this poster, the sheer rallying power of Mao was clearly intended to bring the point home in encouraging the use and spread of Mao Zedong thought. Setting aside the need for a reduction in text on posters in order to keep the attention of the viewer, the fact that only Mao Zedong thought was needed to be mentioned explicitly in order to carry on the intended message of the poster speaks to the kind of impact Mao had on China.
mao zedong thought as the panacea for illness
This short clip is from a film called “A Song of Triumph for Chairman Mao’s Proletarian Line of Public Health,” which was created by the People’s Liberation Army in 1969. The film features PLA workers treating deaf-mute children in a rural school in China, using Mao Zedong thought. The intended audience is likely the Chinese public, as seen through the appeals to emotion throughout the film and the constant portrayal of CCP propaganda. The film argues that because of Liu Shaoqi’s ignorance and labelling of deaf mutes, and the bureaucratic hospitals ran by bourgeoisie, the children were left as deaf-mutes due to illness and refusal of treatment by doctors. In response, the PLA endeavours to cure the deaf-mute children by using Mao Zedong thought, and succeed through PLA sanctioned acupuncture, thereby allowing the children to properly participate in the Cultural Revolution.
This film is government sanctioned propaganda, likely created to further promote the successes of Mao Zedong and his policies throughout his reign as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. By using the appeal of previously permanently ill children, and their supposed desire to hear Mao’s voice and participate fully in the Cultural Revolution, the film is meant to create anger towards Liu Shaoqi, who had already been denounced by Mao as a political traitor, and cement the faith the Chinese proletariats had in Mao.
The film is rife with examples of assumptions about the power of Mao Zedong thought and the politics associated with the Cultural Revolution. The filmmakers assume that because Mao Zedong thought was so prominent and praised by Chinese society, the use of Mao Zedong thought in the otherwise completely irrelevant field of medicine was completely justified and pragmatic, due to the political and cultural status of Mao Zedong. The film also assumes that the viewer is either neutral or has no support for Liu Shaoqi, as they openly denounce him and deface a grotesquely drawn caricature of Liu Shaoqi, to demonstrate their supposed justified anger towards Shaoqi for causing these children to suffer from deaf-muteness.
This film is highly evident of the cultural weight that Mao held within China during this period, seemingly from the fact that his academic writings could be applied towards unrelated fields such as medicine as an applicable solution, and is identified as the main cause for the cure of deaf-muteness. This kind of behaviour is quite unique to the Chinese Revolution and China itself, as this film arises within the throes of the most intense support and admiration of Mao.
This film is government sanctioned propaganda, likely created to further promote the successes of Mao Zedong and his policies throughout his reign as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. By using the appeal of previously permanently ill children, and their supposed desire to hear Mao’s voice and participate fully in the Cultural Revolution, the film is meant to create anger towards Liu Shaoqi, who had already been denounced by Mao as a political traitor, and cement the faith the Chinese proletariats had in Mao.
The film is rife with examples of assumptions about the power of Mao Zedong thought and the politics associated with the Cultural Revolution. The filmmakers assume that because Mao Zedong thought was so prominent and praised by Chinese society, the use of Mao Zedong thought in the otherwise completely irrelevant field of medicine was completely justified and pragmatic, due to the political and cultural status of Mao Zedong. The film also assumes that the viewer is either neutral or has no support for Liu Shaoqi, as they openly denounce him and deface a grotesquely drawn caricature of Liu Shaoqi, to demonstrate their supposed justified anger towards Shaoqi for causing these children to suffer from deaf-muteness.
This film is highly evident of the cultural weight that Mao held within China during this period, seemingly from the fact that his academic writings could be applied towards unrelated fields such as medicine as an applicable solution, and is identified as the main cause for the cure of deaf-muteness. This kind of behaviour is quite unique to the Chinese Revolution and China itself, as this film arises within the throes of the most intense support and admiration of Mao.
Mao's continued Legacy
![Picture](/uploads/7/4/8/4/74842977/352985.jpg?473)
One of the most notable examples in modern day that attributes to the continuing cultural impact of Mao can be found within the inclusion of Mao Zedong’s portrait onto the 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 yuan bills. While Mao Zedong’s had been featured on the bills since 1949, the CCP has recently recommissioned the original artist, Liu Wenxi, to create a new set of bills in 1999, which are still in circulation to this day.[1] Because Mao Zedong is featured on all possible currency, it is clear that the audience incorporates all of present day China. The feature of Mao Zedong on modern currency likely argues that Mao had a very close relationship with the masses during his reign, and still continues to do so in current-day China.
This document, as previously mentioned, is an example of current government sanctioned promotion of Mao Zedong through currency. As the CCP is still in power today, the inclusion of Mao Zedong on modern currency is likely an acknowledgement of the CCP’s origins and a promotion of the still existing cultural importance of Mao, though it is notably less prominent and extreme as it was during Mao’s reign.
The assumption that this document makes is mainly about Mao himself. While it seemed prompt, with the rejection of traditional Chinese culture and denouncement of previous Chinese rulers that they currency ought to incorporate Mao Zedong, as he ushered them into a new political and cultural era which had never been experienced before in China. The public approval of Mao Zedong likely also contributed to the placement of Mao Zedong’s portrait on Chinese currency. However, 1999 is several decades away from the official end of the Chinese Cultural revolution, and thus the continued inclusion of Mao on the current currency implies an assumption that the people remembered and still placed Mao Zedong on such a high level, both politically and culturally. The decision to incorporate Mao on the currency also assumed that people still admired him in the same way that they did during the Chinese Revolution.
Scholars such as Mobo Gao and Arif Dirlik suggest that both the government and public have refused to completely denounce Mao, the former sometimes preferring Mao’s reign over leaders such as Deng Xiaoping,[2] and the latter fearing the denunciation of their Party and state by not attributing importance to Mao and his contributions to the party, regardless of how disastrous they were for China.[3] Regardless, the incorporation of Mao onto modern currency is a statement in itself on the cultural power of Mao.
[1] http://chineseposters.net/artists/liuwenxi.php
[2] Mobo Gao, The Battle for China’s Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution (London: Pluto Press, 2008): 198-199.
[3] Arif Dirlik, “Mao Zedong in Contemporary Chinese Official Discourse and History,” China Perspective no. 2 (2012): 18.
This document, as previously mentioned, is an example of current government sanctioned promotion of Mao Zedong through currency. As the CCP is still in power today, the inclusion of Mao Zedong on modern currency is likely an acknowledgement of the CCP’s origins and a promotion of the still existing cultural importance of Mao, though it is notably less prominent and extreme as it was during Mao’s reign.
The assumption that this document makes is mainly about Mao himself. While it seemed prompt, with the rejection of traditional Chinese culture and denouncement of previous Chinese rulers that they currency ought to incorporate Mao Zedong, as he ushered them into a new political and cultural era which had never been experienced before in China. The public approval of Mao Zedong likely also contributed to the placement of Mao Zedong’s portrait on Chinese currency. However, 1999 is several decades away from the official end of the Chinese Cultural revolution, and thus the continued inclusion of Mao on the current currency implies an assumption that the people remembered and still placed Mao Zedong on such a high level, both politically and culturally. The decision to incorporate Mao on the currency also assumed that people still admired him in the same way that they did during the Chinese Revolution.
Scholars such as Mobo Gao and Arif Dirlik suggest that both the government and public have refused to completely denounce Mao, the former sometimes preferring Mao’s reign over leaders such as Deng Xiaoping,[2] and the latter fearing the denunciation of their Party and state by not attributing importance to Mao and his contributions to the party, regardless of how disastrous they were for China.[3] Regardless, the incorporation of Mao onto modern currency is a statement in itself on the cultural power of Mao.
[1] http://chineseposters.net/artists/liuwenxi.php
[2] Mobo Gao, The Battle for China’s Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution (London: Pluto Press, 2008): 198-199.
[3] Arif Dirlik, “Mao Zedong in Contemporary Chinese Official Discourse and History,” China Perspective no. 2 (2012): 18.
suggested reading
Huang, Shaorong. To Rebel is Justified: A Rhetorical Study of China’s Cultural Movement, 1966-1969. Maryland: University Press of America, 1996.
Gao, Mobo. The Battle For China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution. London: Pluto Press, 2008.
Jianqi, Yan and Gao, Gao. Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution. Trans. D. W. Y. Kwok. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996.
Petras, James. “The Chinese Cultural Revolution in Historical Perspective.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 27, no. 4 (1997): 445-459.
Su, Yang. Collective Killings in Rural China During the Cultural Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Morning Sun, a documentary on the Cultural Revolution
Gao, Mobo. The Battle For China's Past: Mao and the Cultural Revolution. London: Pluto Press, 2008.
Jianqi, Yan and Gao, Gao. Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution. Trans. D. W. Y. Kwok. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996.
Petras, James. “The Chinese Cultural Revolution in Historical Perspective.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 27, no. 4 (1997): 445-459.
Su, Yang. Collective Killings in Rural China During the Cultural Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Morning Sun, a documentary on the Cultural Revolution