1970 Chinese Propaganda Poster “Grow Strongly under the Broad Sky and Earth”

This poster is an example of how industrialization impacts the Chinese design industry’s technologies. Under the leadership of Mao Ze Dong, China underwent the Cultural Revolution in the mid 20th century as communist ideals, small-scale industry, and agricultural collectivization were encouraged. While the Chinese Cultural Revolution does not fit the definition of “industrialization”, it has industrialized the design industry’s technology, specifically the printing technologies. In order to spread the Cultural Revolution across China, many propagandas print like the poster above were designed with phrases such as “Grow Strongly under the Broad Sky and Earth” and printed to encourage communist ideals such as agricultural collectivization. Hence, lithography played a huge role in meeting the high demand for Chinese propaganda prints as well as the advancement of Chinese design industry’s technology. Because of how fast and detailed lithography prints, it was also later used to mass produce many Chinese packaging, calendars, newspapers, magazines and more, revolutionizing the Chinese design industry.