The Cultural Revolution Politics, Posters, and Media Culture in China

“Chairman Mao is the Red Sun in Our Hearts”

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution “standard” narratives: “ten years of calamity” “ultra-leftist aberration” Chairman Mao and the cult of personality carnival of destruction/ “Lord of the Flies” cultural wasteland/ totalitarian propaganda

“Women hold up Half the Sky: How can we fail to transform nature?”

History of the Cultural Revolution : Radicalism and Red Guards : Factionalism and Military Re-Imposition of Control : Rise and dominance of the “Gang of Four” 1976: Chairman Mao’s death : “Reform and Opening” leading to marketization and globalization

The Culture of the Cultural Revolution Socialist mass culture and mass media: radio re-diffusion poster art cinema literature Penetration of rural areas and the problem of literacy and dialect Participatory cultures Cross-platform “marketing”: the case of the “Little Red Book” Underground and unofficial culture

Big character posters