05.25.07
转贴
SUN WUKONG
The writing is on the wall
By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - Throughout his life, the late Chairman Mao Zedong attached great importance to propaganda. “Power comes out of the barrel of a gun” is probably one of his best-known quotations. But it was also his idea that led to both the gun and the pen becoming indispensable weapons in the Chinese Communist Party’s seizure of power to rule “all under heaven” in 1949.
Mao had revolutionary slogans painted on walls, and billboards
were used to promote the party’s line and policy, just like outdoor advertising for commodities. Under Mao, both in the civil war leading up to the taking of power and afterward, outdoor slogans were a highly effective propaganda instrument.
In the Mao era, the use of outdoor slogans reached its climax during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) when the whole country was overwhelmed by revolutionary slogans painted in red. In addition, everyone carried a copy of Mao’s “Little Red Book” of quotations. Indeed, the country became a “sea of red”. Even today, some places keep the red outdoor slogans of the Cultural Revolution intact (or suspiciously repainted) as a selling point to attract tourists.
With Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms and opening up, starting in the late 1970s, China has largely departed from the road set by Mao after the death of the “Great Helmsman” in 1976. Nevertheless, one of Mao’s legacies is that outdoor slogans are still widely used as propaganda tools, though most prime outdoor space in large cities has been sold for revenue-generating advertising. For the political messages, the difference nowadays is that the slogans are much more diversified and largely address local affairs.
In the early 1970s, then-premier Zhou Enlai taught a visiting Western journalist how to read Chinese newspapers. He said that what was hailed in “our newspapers” was actually what needed to be improved.
This is certainly true of slogans in today’s China: issues that feature as outdoor slogans are invariably problem ones.
Recently, I traveled with a group to several cities in southern China’s Guangdong province. On a section of the Shenzhen-Shantou expressway within the territory of Shanwei, a city between the two special economic zones of Shenzhen and Shantou, we noticed a slogan on a piece of red cloth hanging from a flyover. It read, “To strike hard on highway robberies.” Another slogan on a roadside billboard said, “Bad public order nearby, don’t stop and get off.” Within minutes we saw the same slogans repeated.
Our guide said highway robberies had run wild in this section of the expressway and the “don’t stop and get off” was meant to warn motorists to exercise extreme caution. But the guide assured us that the situation had greatly improved after repeated efforts by the police. We were somewhat relieved when the ominous slogans stopped.
In Chaozhou, a city bordering Shantou, we came across such slogans as “Drug-trafficking and drug-taking are forbidden” and “To strike hard on underground Mark Six” (a kind of lottery). Obviously, drug-related crimes and underground gambling activities are rampant in the area.
In China, the state monopolizes the production and distribution of cigarettes, but people still manufacture fake cigarettes to get a slice of the profitable business, especially in the Shantou-Chaozhou area. It is common to read slogans such as “To severely crack down on production and sale of fake cigarettes” or “Reward: xxxxx yuan for information leading to smashing of a fake-cigarette production line.”
As China’s economy develops, electricity and telecommunications networks are expanding rapidly. In some poor areas, people cut cables to take out the copper wiring, which they then sell. Hence slogans warn, “Stealing cables interrupts electricity supply” and “Imprisonment for cable thieves.” Some slogans have a bitter sense of humor: “This is optical-fiber cable, no copper inside.”
Beijing has had difficulty in implementing its one-child policy in rural areas, as peasant families need as many hands as possible to work the fields. The most common slogans in villages across China thus relate to family planning - about 80%, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency.
Some of the more popular slogans are encouraging and persuasive, such as: “Both boys and girls are future pillars of the country,” “One child, more banknotes” or “To become rich, give birth to fewer children but build more roads.” Some can be insulting: “To be rich, give birth to fewer children and raise more pigs.”
The slogan “Building a socialist new village” has become a must since President Hu Jintao called for “building a socialist new countryside” at the beginning of last year.
Most major hospitals hang such slogans as “It is illegal to accept red packs.” This highlights the rampant practice of doctors taking red packs with money inside from the families of patients.
As slogans become increasingly diversified and localized, they also become more controversial through their vulgarity or bluntness.
Worsening public order in Shenzhen has been a headache for the authorities for some time. Two years ago, a police station hung a slogan across a street under its jurisdiction that said, “Keep alert to guard against robbers of Henan origin.” Henan is a relatively poor province in central China and many of its natives have to work in other provinces. The slogan obviously angered Henan natives and led to a fierce debate on the Internet over the discrimination. The slogan was withdrawn.
This year, a slogan was found near the entrance of an underground railway station in Beijing: “Looking for a prostitute is forbidden here.” It aroused public criticism after it was reported by the local media. Some readers questioned: “Does it mean that prostitution is allowed elsewhere?”
All the same, slogans remain an indispensable part of life in China, and Chinese slogans have even become a book topic. Kong Qingdong, a Peking University professor of Chinese language, became famous after the publication of his book Long Live Slogans a couple of years ago. Another book, Slogans and China, co-authored by Zhang Wen and Li Yan, also sold well.
Despite growing controversy over the role of government-sponsored outdoor slogans in an increasingly market-oriented economy, an investigative report by the Beijing-based Legal Daily found that nearly all officials interviewed considered such slogans indispensable in promoting government policies and works.
In some places, outdoor slogans have been adopted as an indicator of the performance of local officials, the Legal Daily reported.
So even though the Chinese Communist Party has a variety of channels for its propaganda, such as newspapers, radio, television, the Internet and even short messages on mobile phones, it still needs outdoor (and also indoor) slogans.
The party says, following Deng’s teaching, that it is striving to build a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. Slogans could be regarded as one of these unique characteristics.
Will have to report back on how it all turned out. 
