Propaganda Art in China

Propaganda influences can be very effective in a country that its government does not encourage citizens speak freely, and restricts citizens to access information freely. The government of The People Republic of China has used propaganda posters as its favor vehicle to mobilize Chinese people since 1949 when the Communist Party took over.

It is necessary for the Communist Party to use propaganda art as its major political supporting channel. Although there are many political parties in China, the country is still mainly run by the Communist Party. When a country is not democracy and control by a single party, shaping people’s thinking and opinion to this party’s favorable political direction is essential for the party. When the citizens cannot receive necessary information to make a right judgment due to news restriction, it becomes easier for the government to present facts selectively.

The style of Chinese propaganda poster has not been changed in more than six decades. It is always loud and without sense of subtleness. However, almost all of them are highly decorated. Regardless the message behind the poster, the poster itself is considered as a form of art.

The message of the left poster is “In order to help our country becomes a developed country, it is good to have only one child”. The poster at the right delivers the message of the awesomeness of having only one child. Take a second to look at these two posters; you may notice that the images of child in these two are girls. However, the reality is Chinese girls do not benefit from one child policy, instead they are the victims of this policy. The one child policy limits a married couple to have only one child. Due to the superior status of male in the society, every couple wishes to have a baby boy. So when the couple has a female infant, this baby girl may face a tough future – being abandoned or to certain extreme killed by her own parent. The preference of male infant causes the unbalance ratio of 114 male for every 100 females among babies from ago 0 to 4.

Compared the messages of these two posters and the reality in China, I have to say that these two posters are the examples of political propaganda.