When I created this poster, I had the intentions of emulating the styles of traditional Chinese propaganda posters from the Cultural Revolution era. The power of the Chinese Communist Party was arguably at its strongest state during this period, and they aggressively promoted their agenda. To aid in this mission, the government distributed propaganda posters throughout the country. With this project, I attempted to display some of those concepts demonstrated back then.

On the top, I headed the poster with the Chinese phrase, “为国家服务…是为己自服务! (wei guo jia fu wu…shi wei zi ji fu wu!)”, which translates to “service to the country…is service to oneself!”. With this saying, I strived to emphasize the collectivist and socialist attitude the Communist government had implemented towards the people. This contrasts to western countries that traditionally promote individualism in a capitalist environment. The Chinese strongly believed in Communist doctrine, so much to the point that several five-year plans were created to meet production quotas for the entire country.

Additionally, I depicted a farmer in a motivational and revolutionary pose in an attempt to relate the poster content to everyday commoners, which in China back then were peasants that made the backbone of the agricultural work force. By gaining the trust of the general population, the government would be able to push its motives more easily. The Chinese government was able to essentially rule over the peasant population with no resistance. Even today, those working and living in distant rural areas in China are more susceptible to propaganda distributed by the Communist Party due to lack of technology, especially when compared to their counterparts living in urban cities.

On the bottom of the poster, I drew several armed soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army to represent the government and its large military force. With this representation, I made an effort to display the overwhelming power the Chinese Communist Party possesed. Prior to World War II, the People’s Liberation Army was known as the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, or simply just the Red Army (中国工农红军).