"Carry On the Revolution to the End"?: Propaganda Posters in China

by Shaomin Li

Overview

The book reviews the way in which art, in the form of posters, was used by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party to serve their revolution. It centers on the era of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and discusses the way in which the revolutionary theory of art was formed and mobilized people to use posters to "carry on the revolution to the end," as Mao called them to do. From the propaganda posters used during the Cultural Revolution, the author identifies the features of persuasion and distortion that are most common in these posters: they persuade people to do what they do not want to do, and they distort reality by showing the opposite. Based on his experience as an propaganda artist in Mao's era, the author reviews the evolution of propaganda posters in China from the revolutionary era to today, and discusses what is at the "end" of Mao's revolution - in today's China.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781983548284
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	01/03/2018
Pages:	52
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.14(d)

About the Author

SHAOMIN LI was an artist serving Mao Zedong's revolution in China. After Mao's death in 1976, he was ordered to paint Mao's portrait for the official state memorial service. He later attended Peking University to study economics. In 1982 Li began graduate studies in the United States and subsequently earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University and conducted research at Harvard University as a post-doctoral fellow. He is now Eminent Scholar and Professor of International Business at Old Dominion University. His commentaries have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and The New York Times. In 2008 he was recipient of Outstanding Faculty Award granted by the Governor of Virginia.
Li is an avid collector of Chinese posters. In 2018, the Chrysler Museum of Art at Norfolk will host an exhibition titled "The Art of Revolution" featuring his collection of posters and his art works during the Cultural Revoluton.