Between 1919 and 1949, Christian groups papered public spaces in China with propaganda posters. Like the nationalists and communists, political parties that also engaged in mass-printing campaigns, the Christians deployed posters to promulgate “a vision for how to build China into a modern nation-state” (3). These posters, which have heretofore received only scant attention, are the subject of this volume of essays. Daryl Ireland, the editor, argues in his introduction that the posters, taken collectively, suggest that Christianity's cultural authority did not wane after 1930 as much as scholars have supposed.
Each of the ten essays approaches the posters from a different angle. Peter Zarrow reveals that Christian groups, intent upon helping China achieve national salvation, pushed social reform more than religion in their posters. Connie Shemo shows how the posters emphasized the important role played by women in advancing public health. Margaret Mih Tillman investigates the posters’ ambiguous depictions of children; childhood comes across both as an “idealized” time of “happiness” and, more darkly, as a precarious life stage in which decisions carry “important, even eternal, consequences” (108). Other essays examine the religious dimensions of the posters. Dana Robert shows how the posters advanced the evangelical goals of the China Inland Mission. Daryl Ireland and David Li, who focus on iconography, explain the problem presented by Jesus, whose mutilated body offended “Confucian sensibilities” (136). Groups solved the problem by de-emphasizing Christ and promoting the cross as Christianity's primary symbol. Finally, Joseph Ho stresses the “in-betweenness” (244) of the posters. They emanated out of “foreign and indigenous imaginations,” existed in public as well as private spaces, and borrowed both from Chinese media and from traditions of Western art.
Ireland insists that the book represents only the start of a scholarly inquiry. I disagree. These superb essays majorly advance our knowledge on these fascinating yet largely unexplored cultural artifacts. Reading this book is also a joy in that one feels as if one is taking in an illustrated lecture. Scarcely a paragraph passes that does not direct the reader's attention to one of the 238 color reproductions. In sum, readers are sure to find this volume highly engaging, richly informative, and deeply enjoyable.
