This is the first comprehensive study of popular culture in twentieth-century China, and of its political impact during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 (known in China as 'The War of Resistance against Japan'). Chang-tai Hung shows in compelling detail how Chinese resisters used a variety of popular cultural forms - especially dramas, cartoons, and newspapers - to reach out to the rural audience and galvanize support for the war cause. While the Nationalists used popular culture as a patriotic tool, the Communists refashioned it into a socialist propaganda instrument, creating lively symbols of peasant heroes and joyful images of village life under their rule. In the end, Hung argues, the Communists' use of popular culture contributed to their victory in revolution.
- ISBN10 0520082362
- ISBN13 9780520082366
- Publish Date 7 July 1994
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 450
- Language English