快愉 / 悲痛 (Joy / Grief) (Chinese poster distributed in Asia)
A diagonal split sets a bright basketball scene under the word for joy against a dark scene under the word for grief, showing a soldier with a red-star cap, drawn with a snarling animal-like face, aiming a bayonet at bowed civilians. The tell is card-stacking and name-calling: two scenes of unequal setting are offered as the whole choice, and the soldier is drawn as a beast.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- July 10, 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
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- 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 (NAID 1767935), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, 10 July 1953. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5730048, 306-PPA-147).
Text on the object
快愉 [seal:] 自由人民 合力建設 自由世界 悲痛
Joyful / Happy [seal:] Free peoples / join forces to build / a free world Grief / Sorrow
Seal columns read right to left; the two headline words are as arranged on the sheet.
