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A propaganda poster celebrating the birthday of Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek proclaiming "Long Live the President"

Propaganda in the Republic of China (in mainland China before 1949 and in Taiwan since then) has been an important tool since its inception with the 1911 Revolution for legitimizing the Nationalist government that retreated from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. Anti-communism and opposition to the Chinese Communist Party have historically been central to propaganda in the Republic of China.

Themes

Northern Expedition

Lai Manwai's film documenting the Northern Expedition and Chiang Kai-shek's consolidation of power, produced by Lai's production company Minxin, was approved by the Kuomintang (KMT) branch in Shanghai as the only long-format film for party propaganda.^[1]^: 54 This made it one of the first party films in China.^[1]^: 54

During the Nanjing government, the ROC launched a cultural campaign promoting the "Arts of the Three Principles of the People."^[2]^: 120 It sought (mostly unsuccessfully) to attract cultural workers to create new propaganda works and more successfully established a censorship apparatus directed against unwelcome cultural products, especially left-wing artists and their works.^[2]^{: 120–121}

Patriotism

Because the national government of the time was weak, it was difficult for any censorship or propagandistic measures to be carried out effectively.^{[citation needed]} However, a bureau was set up to control the production and the release of film in China. Also, newspapers unfavorable to the central government could be harassed at will. After the Northern Expedition, the power of the central government increased significantly, and propaganda campaigns became more effective. Propaganda was produced with different patriotic themes, such as Chinese nationalism.^{[citation needed]}

Zheng Junli's 1941 film Long Live the Nations (Minzu wansui) was the first Chinese propaganda film aimed at developing solidarity among the ethnic minorities living in China's border regions.^[1]^: 106 The film was produced through the Nationalist-controlled China Motion Picture Studio.^[1]^: 106

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Republic of China produced propaganda against Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War to booster morale and bolden resistance to the invasion.^[3]^{[page needed]} During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Nationalists had mobile projectionists travel in rural China to play anti-Japanese propaganda films.^[4]^: 46 More was produced during the Chinese Civil War.

Eighth Route Army in Shanxi.
Kwang-jeou Hu-man courageous battle poster.
Navy Army Air Force fight the enemy poster
Propaganda poster in Nanking depicting the fate of traitors
Anti-Japanese propaganda poster published after revenge by Koreans in the Wanpaoshan Incident

Anti-communism

In mainland China

During the Chinese Civil War, propaganda against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was extensively used.^[5]

Chiang Kai-shek attacked the CCP in 1943 with the propaganda piece China's Destiny, which questioned the CCP's power after the war, and the CCP strongly opposed Chiang's leadership and referred to his regime as fascist in an attempt to generate a negative public image.^[5]

In Taiwan

One of the main tools for disseminating propaganda in Taiwan has been the Government Information Office and the various media properties controlled by the Kuomintang and the government. Besides controlling commercial television and radio stations, a police radio station often broadcast "educational" plays with propagandistic value and a film bureau. After the Kuomintang fled to Taiwan, propaganda through public education in Taiwan was an important tool in creating a Chinese national identity among Taiwanese and preparing the people for "a counter-offensive" against the PRC. Although the government is now democratic, the legacy of authoritarian rule has created a confusion of identity in Taiwan, both with many adults having grown up thinking that the ROC would launch a "counter-offensive" against the PRC and with Mandarin becoming the most common language. Previously, the people had been educated in the evils of the Communists and the good of the Nationalists, with many Taiwanese remembering lore taught in elementary school on the wisdom of Chiang Kai-shek.^{[citation needed]}

The Kuomintang also published numerous publications after its retreat to Taiwan, including the Free China Journal. Its popularity soared, as the editors and writers analyzed political situations at the time and sometimes even advised or criticized the government in earnest.^{[citation needed]}

Occasionally, the ROC has attempted to spread propaganda into PRC-controlled areas, usually in the form of leaflet drops over coastal provinces that call for the locals to rebel against CCP rule and are accompanied by the promise that the ROC will one day liberate the mainland. That proved to be ineffective and after several years was largely discontinued.^{[citation needed]}

The Government Information Office was replaced after democratization with the National Communications Commission, an agency styled after the Federal Communications Commission in the United States. Most of today's films in Taiwan are Hollywood movies, and all theaters are commercially-run for-profit enterprises. Some activities of the Taiwanese government have been described as propaganda.^[6]^[7] Much of it has been directed against Mainland China's People's Republic of China.^[8]

Propaganda campaigns abroad

According to a 1979 report by the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Taiwan government operated one of the two most active anti-dissident networks within the United States, including large-scale propaganda campaigns implemented through front organizations, among other espionage activities.^[9]^: 7

Media

Films

In the Republic of China, movies were created even during wartime, such as Mulan Joins the Army (1939)^[10] with its story of a young Chinese peasant fighting against a foreign invasion, and Children of Troubled Times (1935), a patriotic Chinese film about the Japanese invasion of China, and known for being the origin of the "March of the Volunteers", now the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.^{[citation needed]}

Patriotic songs

Several songs written in the Republic of China had patriotic messages. Some, such as 800 Heroes Song, Guerrillas' Song, and The Sword March, were written during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and others, such as Go and Reclaim the Mainland and The Anti-Communist and Anti-Russian Aggression Song, were written with anti-communist messages.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Qian, Ying (2024). Revolutionary Becomings: Documentary Media in Twentieth-Century China. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231204477.
^ ^a ^b Laikwan, Pang (2024). One and All: The Logic of Chinese Sovereignty. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. doi:10.1515/9781503638822. ISBN 9781503638815.
^ Shuge Wei (5 September 2017). News under fire : China's propaganda against Japan in the English-Language Press, 1928-1941. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9789888390618. OCLC 1039082220.
^ Li, Jie (2023). Cinematic Guerillas: Propaganda, Projectionists, and Audiences in Socialist China. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231206273.
^ ^a ^b JIAN, CHEN (2001). Mao's China and the Cold War. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4932-3. JSTOR 10.5149/9780807898901_chen.
^ Rawnsley, Gary (2000-05-01). "Selling Taiwan: Diplomacy and propaganda". Issues and Studies. 36 (3): 1–25.
^ Rawnsley, Gary D. (1999-12-01). "Taiwan's propaganda cold war: The offshore islands crises of 1954 and 1958". Intelligence and National Security. 14 (4): 82–101. doi:10.1080/02684529908432572. ISSN 0268-4527.
^ Rawnsley, Gary D. (2005-10-01). "Old wine in new bottles: China—Taiwan computer-based 'information warfare' and propaganda". International Affairs. 81 (5): 1061–1078. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2346.2005.00502.x. ISSN 0020-5850.
^ Cheng, Wendy (2023). Island X: Taiwanese Student Migrants, Campus Spies, and Cold War Activism. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295752051.
^ Ministry of Culture Staff (2003). "Sole Island Movies". ChinaCulture.org. Archived from the original on 2006-08-26. Retrieved 2006-08-18.