Historically, every nation has gone through a great deal of
transformation in their governing styles in order to become a more powerful
nation. However, the transitioning periods between one governing style to the
next can be very dangerous for the country, it can make it or break it. It is
impossible for any governing style to work for a country without one very
important thing: its citizens. It takes citizens to run a country. If the
country cannot get its citizens to get on board with the idea of a governing
style different from what they're used to, the country is likely to fail.
There
are many ways for a government to gain support of its citizens. Perhaps the
most influential way China gained support of its Cultural Revolution, also
known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, in the late 1960s was its
use of propaganda. I believe that the reason that Mao Zedong's Cultural
Revolution was successful in the way that it was, was because of the extremely
prevalent propaganda that was implemented throughout the country.
According
to the History Channel, in the 1960s Mao Zedong began to feel as if "the
current party leadership in China, as in the Soviet Union, was moving too far
in a revisionist direction, with an emphasis on expertise rather than on
ideological purity." (History Channel) The emphasis on expertise that is
stated to in the article refers to the Soviet Union's research expansion on
science, as in on space, weapons, and aircraft. This is inferior to Mao
Zedong's strong belief in ideological purity. When Mao began this Cultural
Revolution in August of 1966 at a congregation of the Plenum of the Central
Committee. After this meeting, the nation's schools were shut down and a call
to action was sent out to the youth of China. Mao encouraged the youth to not
support the party leaders with bourgeois values and lack or revolutionary
spirit. With a sense of inspiration felt by China's students, many began to
harass and attack those party leaders who did not fully support the idea of
Communism, the elderly and the intellectual population. Mao Zedong seemed to
have targeted the younger population of China to be his followers in his
movement. Although it seemed as if the Cultural Revolution was causing more
domestic issues for the country of China, it kept gaining supporters.
"Massive violence, betrayal, cruelty, and indifference... characterized
the Cultural Revolution." (P. 101, Chen) How was it the Mao Zedong kept
gaining supporters thought it seemed like he was damaging the country? Through
his use of propaganda, Mao was able to gain many supporters of his communist
party. His propaganda was presented to citizens in many different forms:
posters, dramas, plays, films, even the excessive use of the color red,
symbolizing the communist party.
In the
memoir, "Growing Up with Posters," by Xiaomei Chen, the author
describes her life during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Chen says that she
grew into the person that society wanted her to become; it was as if the gender
roles of her society had already been decided, leaving her without choice. At
point in the memoir, Chen says, "from an early age, I willingly subjected
myself to subalterns sharing "their" dream of building an ideal
society in which men and women - rich and poor, educated and uneducated -
could, through their collective efforts, share equality in wealth and
happiness." (P. 105, Chen) When the
author says she was to believe to "share equality in wealth and
happiness," this is directly referring to the idea of Communism. The idea
of Communism was implanted in the minds of young students at a very young age.
"It was inspiring to believe (as Mao had instructed us) that in the vast
arena of the countryside, revolutionary youth could make full use of their
talents and enhance their prospects. Picture books, posters, and newspaper
stories al helped bring home that message." (P. 106, Chen) In my opinion,
this is the most powerful quote in the entire memoir. It truly emphasizes just
what kind of power these picture books, posters and newspaper stories had over
the students. Years later, after Mao Zedong's death, Chen began to realize that
she didn't actually believe in what she had been brainstormed to think, she
realized she allowed the posters around her to make her believe in Mao's
Communism. She says, " I have no doubt that in my unconscious, posters
became indelibly inscribed as part of my childhood of wonders, my wanderings,
and the emotions associated with growing pains." (P. 109, Chen) This is
simply one account of a Chinese citizen was directly affected by Mao's use of
propaganda to gain support of his movement. Mao made the students feel like
they were doing great things by spreading his idea of Communism and that party
leaders who didn't support it should be without power.
Not
only did the Communist reach out to students, but also women. Mao made it an
effort to show the country that women had power with the Chinese Communist
Party. This can be seen in another form of governmental propaganda, and opera
called "The Red Lantern." In the opera, an old woman plays a
character who strongly supports the Communist Party because she is equal to
men, as opposed to traditional Chinese values. The old woman talks about how
they have had the red lantern in their family for years and it should always be
cherished because it has brought their family joy. I take the red lantern as a
symbol for Communism. Even though it's a small point, the fact that the opera
is called, "The Red Lantern," is a bit of Communist propaganda
because it possesses the color of the party. It just shows how propaganda was
used anywhere and everywhere.
Based
on our recent readings, mainly of "Growing Up with Posters," I
believe that the Chinese Cultural Revolution would not have lasted as long as
it did without the extreme use of propaganda. Without Mao's propaganda, he
wouldn't have been to gain many supporters, especially women and younger
students. The majority of his propaganda seemed intended for them, which was a
great political strategy since no other leaders had pushed to gain their
support before this time. I do not agree that the Cultural Revolution helped
China, I only agree that Mao's propaganda had a powerful effect on the
citizens.
Works Cited:
"Cultural
Revolution." History
Channel . Web.
<http://www.history.com/topics/cultural-revolution>.
Chen, Xiaomei. "Growing Up with Posters in the Maoist
Era," in Picturing Power in the People's Republic of China, edited by
Evans, Harriet and Donald, Stephanie. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1999, pp. 104-109
