01.05.09
Cultural Revolution Propaganda Part 2
Here’s the next batch of posters. I’ll have more up as I get them scanned and translated. Corrections welcome.
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| Long Live the invincible Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought! |
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| The Red Army does not fear difficult expeditions. |
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| Carry out in depth the Revolution’s Mass Criticism! Everything will come out. |
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| Soldiers and civilians unite as one, view the world and see who is the enemy. |
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| Long Live and victory to Chairman Mao’s revolutionary literature and art! |
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| Carry out life, studies, and speech using the Mao Zedong Thought of the masses. |
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| Navigating the sea is dependent on the Helmsman. Revolution is dependent on Mao Zedong Thought. -Lin Biao 11/29/67 |
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| Be vigilant, defend the Motherland! Prepare to annihilate the enemy’s invasion! |
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| Forward and Victory with Chairman Mao’s Revolutionary Path. |
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| Unite! We must liberate Taiwan. |
Alan
said,
January 5, 2009 at 9:38 am
“Soldiers and civilians unite as one, view the world and see who is the enemy.”
This one should be translated as “Soldiers and civilians unite as one. Who can stop us now?”
Those were the darkest days of China’s modern history. It is estimated that 33 million of Chinese died of hunger in the Great Leap Forward Movement (not to be confused with any gymnastic move named after Chinese gymnasts if any) prior to Cultural Revolution. Some believe Cultural Revolution was Mao’s way to diverge people’s attention from the real economic problem then and also to purge out political rivals. Mao was a typical Chinese emper0r. History has proved again and again that propaganda works and that the average citizen can be easily braim washed.
harry_d
said,
January 5, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Agree.
A bit sad that these posters are now considered cute/ kitsch. Even I am guilty of this.
How quickly these ugly pages of history can be forgotten/ ignored.
xge
said,
January 5, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Nice translation.
Those posters are so commonly seen that one would never realize their true menaings until actually trying to translate them into English.
seine
said,
January 5, 2009 at 8:20 pm
“Carry out in depth the Revolution’s Mass Criticism! Everything will come out.”
I think the latter part of that is more along the lines of “Expose everything”, no? I read the poster as more of a command, as opposed to the prediction implied by “everything will come out.”
GREAT translations, btw!
I’ve been lurking around your blog for a while now … i really really love it
Last Hermit
said,
January 7, 2009 at 11:30 am
‘进一步开展活学活用毛泽东思想的群众运动’ should be read as ‘进一步开展(活学活用毛泽东思想的)群众运动’
where ‘活’ means ‘灵活’
Deepen our masses movement for a flexible studies and use of the Mao Zedong Thought?
Last Hermit
said,
January 7, 2009 at 10:24 pm
‘Everything will come out.’ should be ‘Hunt everyone down’
Esther
said,
January 10, 2009 at 5:45 pm
“A bit sad that these posters are now considered cute/ kitsch.”
我不同意。 Not everyone who professes interest in this kind of stuff necessarily views it as cute etc, although a lot of people really seem to consider these posters (and the waving Mao watches) as cool. Personally, I just love Communist propaganda material, but for professional reasons. A colleague of mine is crazy about German war tactics during World War II, but he certainly isn’t a Nazi, so I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with having a keen interest in some of the “darker” periods in history. If you want to see the other extreme – full endorsement of the slogans above – take a look at the comments on some “political” Chinese songs on YouTube. Some of them are so gutwrenchingly cheesy they have to be fake.
“that the average citizen can be easily braim washed”
True, although it’s not merely “the average citizen”.Actually,it’s just a matter of exposure. Some time ago, I would asserted that everything depended on one’s education level and ability to think critically. I prided myself in not being susceptible to propaganda, but job-related research proved me wrong. After spending quite some time on websites that propagated certain ideologies and reading similar material, I caught myself having thoughts that were in accordance with the arguments made by these groups – despite consciously believing in quite the opposite. When I realized the extend of the phenomenon, I was scared stiff.
Btw, Ben, your translations really captured the 语气 and essence of the posters’ captions.