Propaganda Poster Art Centre

I visited the Propaganda Poster Art Centre today. Easily the most interesting place I've been to so far in Shanghai. The centre was in the basement of an apartment complex and was very small: just a few rooms loaded with posters and a gift shop. When I got there, a woman said hello and asked how I'd heard of it (it's listed in Lonely Planet). When I asked if she worked there, she said was just signing a few copies of her book for the gift shop. Turns out she was Chun Yu, author of Little Green -- a book about growing up during the Cultural Revolution. Pretty cool!

Anyway, here's a few words from the brochure that I thought were interesting:

For those thirty years (1949-1979) there was one man always shone in the sky like the sun from the east. Chairman Mao Zedong directed the stage of China as a drama master of his political movements, one after another. His last but worst piece is the Culture Revolution that remains in the minds of the Chinese people as a nightmare. The main task of the propaganda poster is to carry out Mao's voice far and wide throughout the country. All these posters were cultivated by the tears and blood of people and have witnessed the happines and bitterness of China.

Today, China is back on the right track towards prosperity again. Shame will it be to forget the recent history. The art center is proud to be the only place in China to have all these posters gathered together here as a part of culture heritage as well as an art treasure to feast the eyes of our audience.