---
title: '中國工人 (Chinese Worker) no. 4, May Day special: contents page and Yan''an colophon'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chinese-worker-may-day-contents-yanan-1940/
description: Contents page and colophon of a Yan'an workers' monthly, May Day issue, with a P.O. box address and an Esperanto masthead.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![中國工人 (Chinese Worker) no. 4, May Day special: contents page and Yan'an colophon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chinese-worker-may-day-contents-yanan-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chinese-worker-may-day-contents-yanan-1940.jpg)

# 中國工人 (Chinese Worker) no. 4, May Day special: contents page and Yan'an colophon

Contents page and colophon of a Yan'an workers' monthly, May Day issue, with a P.O. box address and an Esperanto masthead. The tell: the lead headline says the worker masses can change the world and build a new China, and further headlines describe Soviet workers' lives as happy, secure and prosperous, using virtue words in place of any stated evidence.

- **Date:** May 1, 1940
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** Chinese Workers Society (中國工人社), Yan'an, with the Border Region General Labour Union as a named contributor
- **Region:** [East Asia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=east-asia)
- **Country:** [China](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=china)
- **Medium:** [Books and pamphlets](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=book-pamphlet)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Nanjing Nationalist Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=nanjing-nationalist-government)
- **Leader:** [Chiang Kai Shek](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=chiang-kai-shek)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Labor](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=labor), [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Event:** [Second Sino Japanese War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=second-sino-japanese-war)
- **Techniques:** [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (National Library of China, Republic-era periodical collection: 中國工人 1940年4期)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC404-01J002167-54021_%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E5%B7%A5%E4%BA%BA_1940%E5%B9%B44%E6%9C%9F.pdf), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (1940 Chinese society periodical; Commons PD-China; corporate term expired) Chinese Workers Society (中國工人社), 中國工人 no. 4 (Yan'an, 1 May 1940), p. 1; scan from the National Library of China via Wikimedia Commons.

## Text on the object

Original (Chinese (traditional), with Esperanto masthead) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
目錄
一九四〇年五月一日出版

工人大衆可以改變世界創造新中國……何思敬
靈山的礦工……[author illegible]
五一特輯
　迎接偉大的五一國際勞動節……[author illegible]
　用戰鬥紀念五一的華北工人……張浩
　邊區工人用生產競賽紀念五一節……[author illegible]
　五一簡史……文抄
　紀念五一國際勞動節的通知……邊區總工會
　悼確山慘案的被難者——孫繼庫同志……[author illegible]
　全世界工人的援華運動（國際工人動態）……[author illegible]
　蘇聯工人過着快樂安定富裕和文化的生活……[author illegible]
　得到了民主自由的西白俄羅斯人……[translator illegible]譯
通訊
　×戰區總工會概況（山東）……[author illegible]
　在××工廠中的李精衛（長安）……小王
　淳耀縣工人為了抗戰出力又出錢（邊區）……[author illegible]
　南洋華僑工人的英勇戰鬥（南洋）……[author illegible]
工人習作（六篇）
國內工運簡訊（一篇）
邊區工運簡訊（十二篇）
來件（四篇）
封面木刻：檢閱我們的力量……力羣

[Colophon box:]
CINA LABORISTO
P.O.BOX NO.8.
YANAN
CHINA
本期特大號　零售二角
預定
全年十二期　一元二角
半年六期　六角

中國工人　第四期
編輯者：中國工人社
發行者：延安郵政信箱第八號
代售處：各地新華書店　日報分館
```

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

```
Contents. Published 1 May 1940. The worker masses can change the world and create a new China. The miners of Lingshan. May Day special: Greet the great May 1 International Labour Day; The workers of North China commemorate May Day with fighting; Border Region workers commemorate May Day with production competitions; A short history of May Day; Notice on commemorating May 1 International Labour Day (Border Region General Labour Union); Mourning the victims of the Queshan massacre, comrade Sun Jiku; The worldwide movement of workers to aid China (international workers' news); Soviet workers live a happy, secure, prosperous and cultured life; The West Belarusians who have obtained democracy and freedom (translated). Correspondence: Outline of the General Labour Union of the X war zone (Shandong); Li Jingwei at the X factory (Chang'an); Workers of Chunyao county contribute effort and money to the war (Border Region); The heroic fighting of overseas Chinese workers in Nanyang. Workers' own writing (6 pieces); news from the labour movement in China (1 piece); news from the Border Region labour movement (12 pieces); contributions received (4 pieces). Cover woodcut: Review Our Strength, by Li Qun. [Colophon:] Cina Laboristo, P.O. Box No. 8, Yanan, China. This extra-large issue: retail 2 jiao. Subscriptions: full year, 12 issues, 1.2 yuan; half year, 6 issues, 6 jiao. Chinese Worker, no. 4. Editor: Chinese Workers Society. Issuer: Yan'an P.O. Box no. 8. Sales agents: Xinhua Bookstores everywhere, Daily branch offices.
```

Read from a 960 px scan of a coarse halftone; the article titles were checked against the table of contents that the National Library of China supplies for this issue on the Commons page. The author names run down the right margin of each column and several are not legible at this size, so they are marked [illegible] rather than guessed. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← Wolkiger Beobachter, Luftpost-Ausgabe, 1. Jahrgang Nr. 7 (Cloudy Observer, air-mail edition, front page)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wolkiger-beobachter-luftpost-1940/) ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/)

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