The Mao Era in Objects

⧉Image Dance Props: Dance In Propaganda Posters

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tea-picking-and-catching-butterflies-dance.jpeg
Title
Tea picking and catching butterflies dance (caicha pudiewu 采茶扑蝶舞)
Date
1954-12
Creator
Wu Zhefu
Publisher
Shanghai huapian chubanshe
Rights
Courtesy of the IISH/Stefan R. Landsberger Collection. Photo © International Institute of Social History. BG E39/937
Description

This poster depicts dancers performing one of the most popular modern Han folk dance works created in China during the early 1950s, 'Picking Tea and Catching Butterflies' (Caicha pudie 采茶扑蝶). Like many dances, it depicted rural people doing manual labor, in this case picking tea. The props used in this dance include painted folding fans and wires with paper butterflies attached to the ends.

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the-victory-of-unity-sings-everywhere.jpg
Title
The victory of unity sings everywhere (tuanjie shenglige wanli 团结胜利歌万里)
Date
ca. 1975
Creator
Unknown
Publisher
Tianjin renmin meishu chubanshe
Rights
Courtesy of the IISH/Stefan R. Landsberger Collection. Photo © International Institute of Social History. BG E13/67
Description

This poster depicts people representing members of different social groups dancing in front of the portrait of Mao Zedong on Tian’anmen Gate in Beijing. The groups represented include ethnic minorities, men and women, workers, farmers, and soldiers. They are meant to symbolize 'the people' who together make up China as a revolutionary nation and society.