---
title: 'Chinese Atrocities poster, No. 1: Landlord at Gunpoint (Lao poster distributed in Vientiane)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chinese-atrocities-no-1-landlord-shot-lao-vientiane-1956/
description: A Lao-language photograph sheet numbered 1. The upper photograph shows a uniformed man aiming a rifle at a kneeling man whose hands are tied behind him.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Chinese Atrocities poster, No. 1: Landlord at Gunpoint

[![Chinese Atrocities poster, No. 1: Landlord at Gunpoint, 1956 US poster: A Lao-language photograph sheet numbered 1](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chinese-atrocities-no-1-landlord-shot-lao-vientiane-1956.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chinese-atrocities-no-1-landlord-shot-lao-vientiane-1956.jpg)

# Chinese Atrocities poster, No. 1: Landlord at Gunpoint (Lao poster distributed in Vientiane)

A Lao-language photograph sheet numbered 1. The upper photograph shows a uniformed man aiming a rifle at a kneeling man whose hands are tied behind him; the lower photograph shows two women, one weeping, seated on the ground. The red captions tell Lao readers that if they believe Communist propaganda their lives will look like this, and describe a 'landowner' with under two rai of land being taken to be killed. The tell is fear-appeal: the photographs are offered as the viewer's future.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (Lao) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ຖ້າພວກພີ່ນ້ອງລາວ ເຊື່ອຄວາມໂຄສະນາຂອງພວກຄອມມຸຍນິສ [illegible] ຊີວິດຂອງພວກພີ່ນ້ອງກໍຈະເປັນດັ່ງພາບນີ້.

ໃນພາບນີ້ຄື "ເຈົ້າຂອງທີ່ດິນ" ຊຶ່ງມີນາບໍ່ເກີນສອງໄຮ່ ກຳລັງຖືກຄອມມຸຍນິສເອົາໄປຂ້າຖິ້ມ ພາບລຸ່ມຄື ພີ່ນ້ອງຂອງຜູ້ທີ່ຖືກຂ້າຕາຍ ກຳລັງຮ້ອງໄຫ້ດ້ວຍຄວາມສົງສານຊາຍຄົນນັ້ນ.

1
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
If Lao brothers believe the propaganda of the Communists, the lives of the brothers will be like this picture. In this picture is a 'landowner' with no more than two rai of rice land, who is being taken away by the Communists to be killed. The lower picture shows relatives of the person killed, weeping in grief for that man. 1
```

Lao script in a stylised face; uncertain words are marked [illegible]. Sheet number printed in a white circle.

[← Atom for Peace Exhibition (Arabic poster distributed in Damascus)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/atom-for-peace-exhibition-arabic-damascus-1956/) [Chinese Atrocities poster, No. 2: Kneeling Prisoners and Dead (Lao poster distributed in Vientiane) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chinese-atrocities-no-2-mass-shooting-lao-vientiane-1956/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)