1950 Communist Propaganda Comic Predicts China 60 Years Later

A Weibo user by the name of @说书者一枚 posted a comic strip from 1950 comparing the hardship and the injustice of pre-liberation China to that of the “New China” under the leadership of the Communist Party. The subsequently deleted Weibo post described the comic’s portrayal of pre-liberation China that ironically resembled the plight of many Chinese people today – more than 60 years after liberation.

@说书者一枚: In 1950, Huadong Comics published a comic book titled “Great Changes After the Liberation”, the comics within the publication drawn by Zhang Leping, Hong Huang, Mi Gu, Zhang Wenyuan, Han Shangyi, Shen Tongheng, and other famous artists. This publication was intended to “awaken people’s disgust toward imperialists and KMT counterrevolutionaries” – Now when we look at these comics from 60 years ago again, [we realize we’ve] time-traveled, definitely time-traveled [back in time]! Look at the pictures below, strongly recommended!

From the portrayal of working class hardship, to unaffordable housing, to foreigners behaving as they please in China, the problems of pre-liberation China seems to remain very much relevant even to this day. Netizens took note of the shocking similarity by criticizing the lack of progress in the past 60 years with some even claiming they’ve time-traveled into the past.

Full Comic from KDNet:

Commodity prices (Before)

Commodity prices (After liberation)

Food prices unaffordable (Before)

Food prices affordable (Now buy one get one free)

American Dollar (Before)

Renminbi (After liberation)

Business means bad investment and losing everything (Before)

Business means cooperation and mutual gains (After liberation)

No housing and high rent (Before)

Now everyone have a place to live (After liberation)

Exploitation by the bosses (Before)

Good wages, collective effort (After liberation)

Low work efficiency and morale (Before)

High work efficiency and morale (After liberation)

High cost of living (Before)

Low cost of living (After Liberation)

Workers were like prisoners (Before)

Workers are the masters (After Liberation)

Worker Oppression (Before)

Worker Liberation (After)

American imperialist do what they want (Before)

Foreigners now have to obey the law (After liberation)

Police brutality and corruption (Before)

Police love and respect the people (After liberation)

Corrupt judicial system (Before)

Fair judicial system (After liberation)

Corrupt officials (Before)

Selfless cadres (After liberation)

Unfair taxation (Before)

Fair taxation (After liberation)

Lack of order and brutal military police (Before)

Social order and disciplined police (After liberation)

Ruthless soldiers (Before)

Disciplined soldiers (After liberation)

Gangsters ruled the city (Before)

Now gangsters are productive members of society (After liberation)

American culture dominated (Before)

Now people follow the right path (After liberation)

Brutality in jail and detention (Before)

Discipline and reeducation in jail (After liberation)

Vulgar and pornographic material rampant (Before)

Literacy, culture and science dominate (After liberation)

Students have no freedom (Before)

Students have intellectual freedom (After liberation)

Peasants beaten and oppressed (Before)

Peasants have own land and freedom (After liberation)

Women have no rights (Before)

Women are equals (After liberation)

Discrimination against the lower class (Before)

Everyone equal (After liberation)

Oppression from Chiang Kai-shek and American imperialists (Before)

Days are brighter one year after liberation (After Liberation)

Comments from Sina Weibo (since deleted):

@半轻烟：

If the Blue Sky with a White Sun Flag is changed to the Five Star Flag…

@贾俊的空间：

Life is like a TV drama, we are always time-traveling.

@观-不语：

This is not time-traveling, it is reincarnation.

@吴乐仔：

The scenes in the comics perfectly match that of the current situation in Mainland China, and its even worse than during the KMT reactionary regime.

@豆芽Saber：

History always repeats itself.

@jiao_Z：

For comics like these to have appeared back then at least shows there was freedom of speech under the KMT regime…

@恒河演乘：

We’ve time-traveled, without the guarantees of a democratic system, history will always be a vicious cycle, China truly hasn’t progressed at all.

@商品期货套利对冲：

These comic artists are amazing, able to to predict social phenomenon 60 years in the future, incredible…