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| The man is holding a book of Mao’s writings, which are
represented here as a weapon in the war on nature. |
On
June 23, 1971, I broke U.S. law when I walked across the border
from British colonial Hong Kong to the People’s Republic
of China. There were no diplomatic relations between the United
States and China and my U.S. passport was not valid for travel
there. A month later on July 24, I walked back across the border
separating China and Hong Kong. My very first trip to China was
over.
 |
| Mao as God: Mao
is depicted here as a god-like figure adored by the people of the whole world. |
I had gotten a glimpse of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou,
Beijing, Yanan and Xian, and spent nearly four hours with Premier
Zhou Enlai
in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. There were almost no
foreign visitors in China at that time, and the hotels where I stayed
were empty. There was no television and I was often followed by as
many as 100 curious people when I went walking in the large cities.
Many people told me they had never seen a foreigner face to face.
In summer 1971, China was smack dab in the middle of Chairman Mao’s
catastrophic Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and its terrors
would not
end for another five years. I was 25 years old and working
on my Ph.D. in Chinese history at the University of Wisconsin—a
poor graduate student with almost no money, and so I took notes and
as many photos as I could. Lots of things were for sale, but I could
not afford them—with one important exception. Cultural Revolution
political and propaganda posters were everywhere and they cost less
than ten cents each in the bookstores.
 |
| A one-party election organized by the state shows smiling
voters giving 100 percent approval to the Communist Party. |
 |
| This action poster celebrates the Chinese soldiers who
fought in the bloody skirmishes along the Chinese-Russian border in
early 1969. |
I was struck by the boldness and militancy of the posters, and
I collected nearly a hundred. The colors are bright but the
quality of the paper is poor. So I kept them tucked away in a closet
for
the next 36 years. Once in a while I pull out a few to show to
my students and they love them. These days, almost everyone, especially
young Chinese, thinks they are very funny. But take a close look.
Sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally, the posters
reveal
many not-so-funny dimensions of Chinese life during the Cultural
Revolution.
I’ve been back to China many times since 1971. Needless to
say, China has changed in some very important ways. Here a MacDonalds,
there a Wal-Mart. Here a laptop, there a Starbucks. But close inspection
of the posters I collected in 1971 reveals ongoing connections between
China’s “revolutionary” past and its “globalized” present.
More than a few Mao-era legacies and habits are alive and well today.
 |
| An aggressive poster shows an intimidating military stance
toward the regime on the island of Taiwan. |
 |
| A psychedelic representation of an uprising
of African-Americans in Washington, D.C. |
Paul G. Pickowicz is distinguished professor of history and Chinese
studies at UC San Diego. |
