ccch 9046: 'propaganda state': culture and politics in the people’s republic of china

lecture 3: propaganda in mao’s republic

based on the readings, the contrast between the mao zedong vs. xi jinping picture:

● from of

propaganda: depicts it positively, almost like a utopian land

● the leader holds the answers and truths of the nation
● continuity: mao zedong → xi jinping: following his legacy (the composition is exactly the same
= the political set up is still the same)
● demonstrates the similarities that were present both historically and in the modern day
● progress (in terms of economy and industry) yet continuity ~ political set up and
propaganda is still the same
● despite being a leader, these leaders are still integrated with the community/working
class -- they are with the people, not just acting for them.
● linking to the readings: mao is described as the ‘sun’ -- pathetic fallacy

stalin and socialist realism:

● showing the world not as it is but how it will
shortly become, or how it should be socialist
realism should show the ideal soviet society.
● a sort of "revolutionary romanticism."
● the present and the future were constantly
idealized while tragedy and negativity were not
permitted unless shown in a different time or
place. things furthermore had to be either right
or wrong, people good or bad, everything had
to be white or black (no grey zone, no
complexity).
● characterized by the glorified depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation
of the proletariat. intellectuals, writers, and artists working to change and educate the
 masses had to accept communist utopia as the ultimate truth and as the inevitability of
the revolution.
● ‘once both were accepted, then romanticization, with its embellishment and
exaggeration of heroes and various beautiful imaginings, would not be fabrication but an
actual reflection of a reality to come.’
○ the aim was to create what lenin called "an entirely new type of human being" the
new soviet man. stalin described the socialist realist artists as "engineers of
souls." in 1934 when the first congress of soviet writers met, zhdanov strongly
endorsed it as "the official style of soviet culture" which it also became.

linking this to china:

● links to art, culture, education, media, etc. in china
● lenin on propaganda in the soviet union = education
● content needs to reach the audience, the masses of people -- right form for presenting
propaganda
○ they have to go out to the chinese people and adapt to their tastes -- what do
they like, what are their aesthetics
● communism as an ideology = about the truth?
● takes place in a material world (look at things as they are) ~ about reality; contrasting
romanticism
● revolutionary romanticism: a movement that has both political propaganda and
romanticism integrated in it
● social realism: a type of art that realistically depicts subjects of social concern, not
realistic, but what we want to achieve - the poor and marginalised people in society
● socialist realism: glorified deception of communist value

the mao 1942 talks (yan’an forum):

● dealt with the role of art and culture in china
● context: war and civil war. ccp red army said to have won partly because they managed
to get the people (countryside majority) to their side.
● the situation of a rural uneducated illiterate situation, of course, existed also in china at
the time just as in lenin’s russia of the 1920. a focus therefore came to be on visual
posters, theatre and songs.
● art should reflect the life of the working classes and consider them as an audience. art
should serve them and these working classes and the advancement of socialism

cult of personality (west (russia/germany) vs china)

● the tsar in russia was, protector of the church, believed himself being chose to rule by
god, and often called "the little father."
● mao and historical notion of the emperor’s role as mediator between heaven and earth, → quasi-
divine figure.
● the personality cult more pronounced in china, especially during the cultural revolution.
● unity: germans -- militaristic vs. china - emotion, culture, and heritage