Designer: Ha Qiongwen (哈琼文)
1965, July
American imperialism must be beaten!
Meidi bibai! (美帝必败!)
Publisher: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe (上海人民美术出版社)
Size: 107×77 cm.
Call number: BG G2/687 (IISH collection)
There are lots of debates around the Vietnam War. In China’s perspective, America’s interference in Vietnam’s own crisis and ambition to expand its foreign territory was an imperialism act. That’s no different from what Imperial Japan had done before. So when America supported the South, China supported the communist North to repel America’s invasion.
The woman in the poster is either Chinese or Vietnamese, and she’s wearing a scarf that’s similar to the iconic Chinese red scarf. The lower half of the poster portrayed the defeated American soldiers with the bold characters in red says “American imperialism must be beaten”.
