From Asia Times Online:
Throughout his life, the late Chairman Mao Zedong attached great importance to propaganda. “Power comes out of the barrel of a gun” is probably one of his best-known quotations. But it was also his idea that led to both the gun and the pen becoming indispensable weapons in the Chinese Communist Party’s seizure of power to rule “all under heaven” in 1949.
Mao had revolutionary slogans painted on walls, and billboards were used to promote the party’s line and policy, just like outdoor advertising for commodities. Under Mao, both in the civil war leading up to the taking of power and afterward, outdoor slogans were a highly effective propaganda instrument. [Full Text]
