Last week I posted about some of the important slogans in China’s political history. Even though people in China seem to have an uncanny ability to ignore them, they are still a daily feature of life and a means by which the government at all levels communicates.
Below are pictures of slogans that I have spotted around Beijing over the past few years. As much as the writers of the slogans would like them to, i doubt if any of these are having much of an impact — in other words, they are not likely to change China.
The Chaoyang District has had a long-running “civilization” campaign, trying to improve the manners and behavior of the residents. These are some of my favorite slogans associated with the campaign:
For my last 8 years in Beijing, I lived on the west side of town, near an urban village called Xi Bali Zhuang (West 8 Li Village). It was amazing to see this village survive the development all around it. The village was there long before Beijing spilled into the area, but as the city grew it became a village of migrant workers. I loved taking visitors for a walk through it so they could get a glimpse of village life without ever leaving the city. I always wondered how long it could hang on.
When I was in Beijing in August, the wondering was over. I took a stroll one evening and discovered slogans all over the place announcing that it was going to be torn down. Everyone was to get out. These are a couple of the slogans I spotted:
Jan and I took a group for a morning walk last summer. Looks like we may have walked through the demolition you mention.