Hong Kong Museum of History
Ends Jun 16
Like Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, the Chinese government used propaganda posters as a means to persuade and influence the public in the 1950s and 60s. Whether art should be used for political means remains controversial, but one cannot deny that propaganda art has historical value over the past century, socially and artistically.
The latest exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History proves this with a display of about 50 reproductions of propaganda posters selected from the collection of the China Archives of Publications - the only institution appointed to manage Chinese government publications. Since its establishment in 1950, the organisation has acquired some 50,000 items, recording the development of Chinese propaganda art and reflecting cultural changes in China since the 1950s.
Among the themes of the exhibited posters are rural life, women, industrialisation and reconstruction, recreation and holiday festivities, national defence, revolution and portraits of political leaders.
'The propaganda posters testify to the historical issues of different times and show the social affairs of each period. The styles of the posters are unique and full of artistic appeal,' says Louis Ng Chi-wah, the Leisure & Cultural Services Department's assistant director of heritage and museums.