Propaganda Poster Museum-Shanghai 8.10

Good morning,
I try to find places off the beaten path when I travel. I read about the Propaganda Poster Museum in a magazine I'd never seen nor heard of before and was intrigued --- but didn't know whether or not to trust this "must see" review. I'm glad I went.

Since I was with Jake, I knew we couldn't go to the famous places we'd already been (Bund, Pearl Tower, Shanghai Exhibition City Planning exhibit, museum, etc), so I figured this would be an hour trip. So glad we went even though he told me three times it would be boring and it was a waste of time. It was tucked in the basement of an apartment complex (Building B). A message from the museum director -- Propaganda posters bring back horrible memories. Memories of random viciousness, torture, unfair accusations during the Cultural Revolution. The government ordered all forms of propaganda destroyed when the Cultural Revolution ended. However, if you look at the posters a distinct art form shows through-- this is why he established the museum, to keep this art form and remember the history. The posters are almost Warhol-like, with hard colors, especially red. They almost remind me of the Che Guevara posters you'd see all over NYC. Angry, forceful, anti-America ("down with the Imperialist Americans, get out of Vietnam, solidarity with our African brothers, friendship with Russia - Pro-Sino-Soviet relations", lots of pix of Brezhnev).

Have tons of pix here but above are some of my favorites. I really like the one at the bottom-the soldier is so angry, I wonder why. Could have been any one's son. The one at the top with the family is so rosy and colorful-it reminds me of the pix in all our Chinese school books as a kid. I wonder if I still have them and if they would be worth any money now (probably not).

As you can see, Jake loves to pose. When you look at the pictures it makes you wonder what it would have been like to live during those times. Not very nice. So glad we went, art and history lesson in one (& under two hours including the taxi rides to & from). Plus a great afternoon with my son who later told me he dumped Starburst wrappers in all the vases around the pix. So much for culture.