Entertainment and Depression (Chinese-language poster distributed in Asia)
A Chinese-language two-panel poster. The upper panel shows a lit cinema screen with two riders on horseback and a silhouetted audience below, captioned 歡樂 ('joy'). The lower round panel shows a figure in a star-badged cap against a tree in a rainy forest, captioned 凉淒 ('bleak'). A seal at upper left carries the slogan 'free people together build a free world'. The tell is card-stacking: two selected scenes are set side by side as a complete contrast.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- August 28, 1953
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Eisenhower Administration
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Media and information, War and the military
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, 1953. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5729940, 306-PPA-40).
Text on the object
歡樂 凉淒 [seal, columns read right to left:] 自由人民 合力建設 自由世界
Joy. / Bleak (desolate). / Seal: Free people, together build, a free world.
Seal columns are read right to left. The second caption is printed 凉淒.
