Local Sounds, Party Echoes: A Study of the Village-Level Propaganda in Maoist Rural China

• In Event: Societal Inputs and Policy Implementation in China

Abstract

This research examines the grassroots side of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machinery. It spotlights marginalized groups such as ostracized opera actors, disabled workers, and school-age children who propagated the Party’s tenets through entertainment activities in rural China. Using county-level archives, oral history, and internal documents, this research challenges the prevailing view that posits the effectiveness of CCP propaganda on high-flying ideology. Rather, it argues that the impact of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda lay in its resonance with people’s daily realities. The intricate blend of politics with quotidian life in the CCP’s propaganda strategy, while rooted in Chinese contexts, mirrors universal principles observable in various global historical scenarios, making the findings relevant for scholars examining propaganda beyond China’s borders.

Author

• Yi Ren, Harvard Fairbank Center