Chairman Mao Zedong Badges & Ephemera

Stefan Landsberger — lecturer in contemporary Chinese History at Leiden University and editor of the semi-annual journal China Information — has assembled a collection of over 1500 Chinese propaganda posters, many of which he’s scanned and put online at his Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages site. Landsberger is a recognized authority on the subject of Chinese propaganda, so along with the posters themselves, you get some outstanding commentary and background. And really, how can you not like a man who writes a paper called Paint it Red—Fifty Years of Chinese Propaganda Posters?

We here at Chairman Mao Badges & Ephemera are fond of the sections on the Mao personality cult, various Cultural Revolution Campaigns and Hua Guofeng (who we find to be a fascinating if relatively forgotten transitional figure in post-Mao China). Every section bears serious inspection, though, and it’s easy to lose a couple of hours to the site.