In "old China" there was a very small upper class, almost no middle class and an enormous lower class composed mostly of peasants. The arts, sophisticated and expensive, were the preserve of the elite. Traditional Chinese painting was heavily influenced by the Taoist reverence for nature. Often depicted were a landscape with mountain peaks engulfed by clouds and a stream winding its way through the valleys. If there were any people in the scene, they were very small and thus insignificant compared to the majesty of nature.

         In "New China", however, the arts were modified both in content and form and were utilized to inculcate the revolutionary teachings of Mao Zedong into the minds of the masses.

         Mao Zedong and Confucius both were born into times of turmoil. Confucius endeavored to reform society by consciously teaching traditional values. He felt if the individual could be perfected, then so could the family, the community and eventually the nation. He felt every man could be cultivated to become a gentleman. So, under Confucius' guidance, moral ideas were to be imparted by every conceivable means -through temples, theaters, homes, proverbs, schools, stories - until they became habits of the heart.

         Roughly 2,500 years later the communist revolution turned the social hierarchy upside down and elevated the masses which consisted of workers, peasants and soldiers. The utilization of the arts to spread revolutionary messages throughout China reached its peak during the misnamed Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution which spanned roughly the years 1966-1976. Artists working in all the mediums had to alter the content of their work.

         The movement to harness the arts to further the revolution really started with the early 20th century writer, Lu Xun, who said that if old, familiar forms of art were utilized to serve the revolution, this would give rise to new and distinctive forms of art. His point was later adopted as policy by the Communist Party: "To work on behalf of the masses and strive to make things easy for them to understand - precisely this is the correct area of effort for the progressive artist."

         And Mao also declared, "All of our literature and art are for the masses of the people, and in the first place for the workers, peasants and soldiers; they are created for the workers, peasants and soldiers and are for their use." Thus literary and artistic production became subject to Communist Party control and direction.

         Professional writers and artists were recruited to help with various mass campaigns. They were instructed to use familiar art forms, but to write works with revolutionary messages. The poster, however, was not a familiar art form, but was utilized so that revolutionary messages could be ubiquitously displayed. Adopting the social realism of the Soviet Union, the boldest propaganda art appeared in the form of posters.

         In the first years of the Cultural Revolution, almost all work units required their employees to make some kind of art work to decorate their homes. Each family had to clear a place on a wall to hang Mao's portrait, to "invite Mao in". When people showed others their portraits, they would say, "I invited this treasure into my home!" They made their display as attractive as possible to show that they were very revolutionary.

         'Art' for the people was mass produced in many formats and sold very cheaply, thus enabling even the poor to hang them in their homes. The heads of the work units periodically inspected homes to see if all the workers had a portrait or a bust of Mao.

         The performing arts were also infused with revolutionary themes. From 1963 to 1965, reports, speeches and articles by such prominent government figures as Mao and his wife, former actress Jiang Qing, denounced many traditional operas as feudalistic, superstitious and vulgar and urged the revolutionization of the stage so that it would reflect and serve socialism. By late 1966, only five model operas promoting revolutionary teachings were permitted to be performed.

         Propaganda teams were sent into the countryside to impart revolutionary messages to the rural masses and were performed on stages built for the purpose. As there was no electricity in most parts of the countryside and little entertainment, these performances were enthusiastically attended.

         The only literature allowed during the Cultural Revolution had to have revolutionary themes. Most of what was read had been written by Mao himself. The most significant of Mao's teachings had been abridged and put between the covers of 'The Little Red Book'. Thus the 'Thoughts of Chairman Mao' were internalized by everyone who was literate...all over China. His other writings appeared in numerous paperbacks priced very low so that the masses could buy them.

         Children's literature and textbooks were also infused with revolutionary teachings and stories of revolutionary heroes. The only foreign literature permitted was Russian.

         The items in my collection are examples in many formats of propaganda 'art' with revolutionary themes. Like other collectors, I felt they should be preserved as a unique part of China's ever evolving history.