Date of Award
Spring 5-4-2017
Document Type
Honors Project
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History and American Studies
First Advisor
Fernsebner, Susan
Major or Concentration
History
Abstract
This thesis is an analysis of the visual and verbal rhetoric of China's Great Leap Forward. Comparing propaganda posters alongside with Mao Zedong's speeches an analysis is made into the ways that technology, progress, and the rural and urban sectors are depicted in propaganda. Starting with the analysis of the early period and the trope of mass mobilization the thesis then moves into a discussion of the trope of positivity in the later period, and concludes with an overview of the artist Zhang Yuqing's work. Through the analysis of the trends of mass mobilization and positivity applied to this period there is a clearer sense of urban-rural division, and a deeper understanding of the propaganda of the Great Leap Forward's larger message.
Recommended Citation
Liberty, Catherine, ""Pessimism is Wrong": A Critical Analysis of State-Sponsored Visual and Verbal Culture During China's Great Leap Forward" (2017). Student Research Submissions. 150.
https://scholar.umw.edu/student_research/150