Long live Chairman Mao, 1964, Poster by Ha Qiongwen

This colorful poster depicts a mother and child  attending the annual National Day of the People's Republic of China Parade; an event held annually at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on the first of October. The figures are inferred to be smiling at Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China and leader of the country as the first Chairman from its founding in 1949 until his death in 1976. 

This poster was designed by Ha Qiongwen, a fine artist from Beijing. According to chineseposters.net, this poster was highly controversial and Ha Qiongwen was highly scrutinized for his depiction of this event. The site states that people were outraged; “why had he depicted a bourgeois woman instead of a female proletarian? Where was Chairman Mao? Why didn't the poster praise the Chairman more explicitly?”. 

This beautiful work was the subject of heated debate and resulted in public humiliation for Ha. Despite this, he continued to design a wide variety of political posters until he retired in 1992.