
With his smooth, warm, red face which radiated light in all directions, Chairman Mao Zedong was a fixture in Chinese propaganda posters produced between the birth of the People`s Republic in 1949 & the early 1980s. Chairman Mao, portrayed as a stoic superhero (a.k.a. the Great Teacher, the Great Leader, the Great Helmsman, the Supreme Commander), appeared in all kinds of situations (inspecting factories, smoking a cigarette with peasant workers, standing by the Yangzi River in a bathrobe, presiding over the bow of a ship, or floating over a sea of red flags), flanked by strong, healthy, ageless men & ”masculinized” women & children wearing baggy, sexless, drab clothing. The goal of each poster was to show the Chinese people what sort of behavior was considered morally correct & how great the future of Communist China would be if everyone followed the same path toward utopia by uniting together. This book brings together a selection of colorful propaganda artworks & cultural artifacts from photographer Michael Wolf`s vast collection of Chinese propaganda posters, many of which are now extremely rare.