Anti-Corruption Poster (workbook)

The Illustrated Poster Yifan (Wade) Wu 1249604 Blue

Definitions: Corruption:

Public authority:

noun [ mass noun ] 1 dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery: the journalist who wants to expose corruption in high places.

• the action or effect of making someone or something morally depraved. the corruption of youth was a powerful motif. the word ‘addict’ conjures up evil and corruption.

2 the process by which a word or expression is changed from its original state to one regarded as erroneous or debased: a record of a word’s corruption | [ count noun ] : the term ‘hobgoblin’ is thought to be a corruption of ‘Robgoblin’.

• the process by which a computer database or program becomes debased by alteration or the introduction of errors. this procedure creates a temporary file to prevent accidental corruption.

3 archaic the process of decay; putrefaction. the potato turned black and rotten with corruption.

ORIGIN Middle English: via Old French from Latin corruptio(n-), from corrumpere ‘mar, bribe, destroy’ (see corrupt) .

A public authority is a type of public-benefit corporation that takes on a more bureaucratic role, such as the maintenance of public infrastructure, that often has broad powers to regulate or maintain public property.

Political struggle: To develop a strategy to bring our class to the stage where it can wage a successful struggle for political power in its class interests, revolutionaries must understand the process of social and political change.

Classes are groups with common economic interests that can act politically to achieve changes beneficial to their interests.

During periods of stability, when the legal and political system conforms to and supports economic progress, legislative and electoral politics allows for changes and adaptations in the system. These occur, often accompanied by social and political turmoil, but without threatening the system itself.

Background: Primary Brief:

Political context

To design a poster that raises a public awareness in order to against the corruption of public country authority and its related national & international economic crime of the mainland China.

In China, nowadays, there exists a social atmosphere of hatred toward the officials and the children of officials (so-called "guanerdai")… the number of similar violent movements targeting local governments and officials is greatly increasing, according to the statistics. The government is under pressure to take measures to repair its image and improve its relationship with ordinary citizens.

The conviction of former Politburo member Bo Xilai on corruption charges has revealed to the world how corrupt some high-ranking Chinese officials are and how complicated Chinese domestic politics is.

At the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)…

President Xi Jinping reiterated his strong resolve to fight corruption.

At the CCDI… As the party leader, Xi pledged that the new government would be determined to punish both the “tigers and flies” (senior- and lower-ranking corrupt officials). Immediately after he took office in March 2013, the anti-corruption campaign was initiated as promised.

Since then, many corrupt officials have been investigated and prosecuted… The discipline agency punished 182,000 officials nationwide in 2013, 13.3 percent more than in 2012. In particular, 31 big “tigers” were investigated and eight of them have been already prosecuted, including some officials at the ministerial and provincial levels.

The anti-corruption movement has gone beyond people’s expectations. In the past, the Chinese government has promised to fight corruption many times, but always ended up without substantial action due to powerful vested interest groups.

Key words: Politics, Corruption, Public Authority Targeted audiences: Chinese Citizen -- aged 16 above

Public Reaction When Xi first vowed to fight corruption, people were doubtful…

Chinese people were both happy and surprised to see so many “tigers and flies” being arrested in the past year.

The party elites are never in one united group, but in different com-

peting factions. Surrounding the Bo case, there have been a lot of political calculations and balancing among different factions. The political struggle is far from ending soon. The ongoing anti-corruption movement is inevitably intertwined with domestic political struggles, as shown by the Zhou investigation. This fact makes the campaign a little controversial.

Xi is said to be the least charismatic president in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Compared to his predecessors, Xi has the weakest amount of power, as the leadership system has been gradually decentralized. The politics of the CCP has had the tradition of strengthening and uniting the power through certain kinds of movements as demonstrated by Mao. It can’t be ruled out that Xi is trying to build his authority in the party through such a movement.

Anyway, for ordinary people, the strong-armed posture on corruption is more than welcomed. Indeed, if party leaders don’t try to tackle the problem seriously, their rule might be challenged. If the corruption problem continues to be worsening, not only the Chinese people, but also the government officials themselves, will lose confidence in the current national system. In that sense, the anti-corruption campaign is a prescription of “strong drugs” in time.

People might still remember former Premier Zhu Rongji, who swore his determination to fight corruption, “Even if a minefield or an abyss should lie before me, I will march straight ahead without looking back.” However, his strong will eventually failed to continue the anti-corruption movement.

Xi seems to have the confidence to wage a long-term war against corruption. Last December, the government published a five-year anti-corruption plan (2013-2017). However, it remains to be seen whether the campaign can overcome hindrance from the vested interests. There are also a lot of concerns whether the campaign can remain above the power struggle and make the CCP a more united political party.

Why the new leadership started the anti-corruption campaign & Why Xi is so determined to keep a firm stance on the fight against corruption, particularly among high-ranking officials.

1. First, the CCP leaders have reached a consensus that notorious corruption had endangered the survival of the party and weakened the legitimacy of its rule… Many corruption scandals involving governmental officials were disclosed in cyberspace in recent years… Xi has described the corruption problem as “a disease that calls for strong drugs.”

2. Secondly, although people have become used to government corruption, with the expanding gap between the rich and the poor, social restlessness is on the rise. As a result, the confrontation between officials and ordinary citizens is deepening.

3. Thirdly, one important background of the anti-corruption campaign is the intensifying power struggle among top party rulers.

4. Fourthly, for Xi, he might also need such a movement to strengthen his leadership in the party.

Opinions: Authority Figure's perspective:

Intellectuals' Perspective:

"…We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people …"

Deng Xiaogang, an academic and expert on corruption, said: "The party realises the impact [of abuses of power] on their legitimacy and maintaining their rule."

"… if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength …"

Deng, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, said China's leders had warned more than two decades ago that corruption threatened Communist rule. Since then the scale had vastly increased, while economic uncertainty and social concerns had given the party "a sense of urgency about the need to do something".

But Deng said powerful interest groups could block the changes needed.

Many in China say the problem cannot be rooted out unless the party undertakes fundamental political reforms, such as the development of an independent judiciary and media.

Wu Qiang, a scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing. said anti-corruption [campaigns] were used to conceal political struggles inside the ruling Communist party, and such struggles were becoming fiercer.

He said the government was seeking to strictly control officials while limiting anti-corruption voices outside the party, releasing news of its achievements to help ease public anger.

Wu described the campaign as a populist policy, saying the public response was likely to affect how long it lasted and how deep it went.

The current drive would calm down "when it reaches a balancing point – which means when the central government needs to implement other policies, and depending on how local officials follow the orders", he said.

Research Summary:

Evaluation:

The Chinese government is now under pressure to take measures to repair its image and improve its relationship with ordinary citizens.

The current new Chinese president announced a five-year anti-corruption plan (2013-2017) as well as started punishing whoever is well-known as a public figure that abuses public authority, including some of those leading officials.

However, some also believe that it is very difficult to challenge those powerful interest groups, despite the fact that the social wealth distribution gap keeps expending which is rising social restlessness.

Due to the reality and recent Chinese history, many people in China argue that only fundamental political reforms and social development like independent judiciary and media can make China a better country.

On the other hand, findings show that the recall of social changes against corruption by the Chinese high-ups can also be read as a form of the concealment of Chinese Communism Party's internal political struggles, which is also helpful in order to ease public anger.

The propose of having this research was to refine my issue - to narrow it down to a comprehensive scale. However, the outcome changes my point of view toward this issue.

1. The centre concern of this governmental campaign is not truly about against corruption but most likely about creating mask for the communism party's internal political struggles. For general public, people care about or even against corruption issues just because they want to have a better life. Besides, the political struggles have nothing to do with most of the citizens and they only influence the society badly. Therefore as long as my targeted audiences are listed as ordinary citizens, the theme of my poster should always express opinion only about the corruption issues themselves but not engage with any of those political struggles.

2. My concept of having a poster about corruption is not based on an educational point of view. Because I argue that probably everyone of Chinese will agree that everywhere in China is corrupted in either more or less way, which means that there is no need to prove the existence of corruptions for the majority of Chinese citizens especially Internet users. It should be an opinion based design work that translate my comment and message of those issues through visual communications. It should be able to be interesting enough to gain my targeted audiences attention and also smart enough to be not so ‘revolutionary’ since it is such sensitive issue in China.

3. Maybe I should move from contemporary context to a rather historical point of view, as the corruption issues were everywhere in this civilization, there must be a fundamental issue of the problem which can be solved fundamentally.

Further Researches: THE PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY

by G. W. F. Hegel Translated by J. Sibree

point to something more significant? (8)

Hegel, Philosophy of History, Introduction, Dover, pp. 1-27

It believes “that Reason is the Sovereign of the World; that the history of the world therefore, presents us with a rational process” (9)

What is history Human history--verses the melancholy monotony of nature the animals, their ritual behaviour, their being fixed as an expression of their environment Humans, the notion of historical change, of epochs, The Chinese, the Greek, the Modern.

What distinguishes them: different forms of self-consciousness.

Such forms distinguished by their conceptions of freedom: one man is free, some men are free, all men are free.

The question: How do we move from one to the other? What is the driving force of history?

This is the question that animates philosophical history.

Pragmatic history: Focuses on lessons from history. Hegel skeptical:

The answer found in philosophical history.

What does he mean by reason?

“On the one hand, Reason is the substance of the Universe; viz. that by which and in which all reality has its being and subsistence. On the other hand, it is the Infinite Energy of the Universe” (ibid.).

It is thus something self realizing.

“It is its own material which it commits to its own Active Energy to work up” (ibid.).

“It supplies its own nourishment and is the object of its own operations.”

The point: the real is the rational and the rational is real.

If we are to talk about human history, however, we must include self-consciousness.

“Peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, exhibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with itself, and itself alone.” (6)

What is the relation of freedom to self-consciousness?

Note premise: historicism.

Spirit, on the contrary, may be defined as that which has its centre in itself. It has not a unity outside itself, but has already found it; it exists in and with itself. Matter has its essence out of itself; Spirit is self-contained existence (Bei-sich-selbst-seyn). Now this is Freedom,

Critical history: histories of art, law, religion. The question: are such phenomena “purely accidental national peculiarities” or do they

Spirit is freedom: “the substance, the essence of Spirit is Freedom” (17) Freedom is independence, it is self-contained existence.

exactly. For if I am dependent, my being is referred to something else which I am not; (ibid.).

There is no sense of freedom here. All right and wrong is simply set by what they take to be “nature”

This existence is that of self-consciousness.

China the extreme example of this: the empire of the one subject manifesting being in its unchanging self-identical Parmenidean character.

This self-contained existence of Spirit is none other than self-consciousness - consciousness of one’s own being. (ibid.).

How is self consciousness free? How is it self determining?

It is determined by the goals its sets for itself.

Its realizing these, its making itself actually what it is potentially. example, the marathon runner Spirit is this structure.

In Hegel’s words: Spirit knows itself. It involves an appreciation of its own nature, as also an energy enabling it to realise itself; to make itself actually that which it is potentially. According to this abstract definition it may be said of Universal History, that it is the exhibition of Spirit in the process of working out the knowledge of that which it is potentially. And as the germ bears in itself the whole nature of the tree, and the taste and form of its fruits, so do the first traces of Spirit virtually contain the whole of that History (17) Point: Early China, but not India has a history. Why not? There laws are not universal, but rather particular relations between the castes.

In that country the impulse of organization, in beginning to develop social distinctions, was immediately petrified in the merely natural classification according to castes; so that although the laws concern themselves with civil rights, they make even these dependent on natural distinctions. (62)

In China, we have the “One Being of the State supremely dominant--the substance, which resembles nothing but itself- --[which] includes no other element.”

In Hegel’s words, “China and India lie, as it were, still outside the World’s History, as the mere presupposition of elements whose combination must be waited for to constitute their vital progress.” (116) Now, for China, the projection of the subjective on to a natural unity assumes the template of the family with its natural distinctions.

As Hegel writes: “The Chinese regard themselves as belonging to their family, and at the same time as children of the State. In the Family itself they are not personalities, for the consolidated unity in which they exist as members of it is consanguinity and natural obligation.” (121).

Evaluation: According to Hegel’s view of history especially Chinese history, the History of China have no individual development, the structure of sprite and freedom. Therefore he argued that China had no history and true developments, because the Chinese people’s ideology made them feel natural of being ruling by the ‘family’. On other word, China was repeating its own history.

For me, his philosophical view of history partly explained the fall of China civilization-wise during the last two hundreds years, though the contexts he referred were blurry and extremely not detailed.

Few questions: 1. What is Chinese? Do we still call Chinese people Chinese if they are rational and have the self-consciousness of freedom?

2. Is it true that China has lack of individual development, the structure of sprite which equals to freedom?

3. Do we only learn from Chinese history through criticism but not inspirations?

4. Can historicism or historical inspirations create value and effect modern people’s attitude towards corruption issues (as a timeless and universal social problem) ?

New Brief To design a poster that raises a public awareness in order to against the corruption behaviours of public country authorities with less contemporary touches. Mostly like to treat corruption as a timeless, universal and also a traditional social crisis, encourage and seek political/ economic fundamental changes from potential audiences.

Key words: Corruption, Public Authority, fundamental understanding Targeted audiences: Middle-aged Chinese Intellectuals

Further Researches: Water Margin Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan, sometimes abbreviated to Shui Hu), also translated as Outlaws of the Marsh, Tale of the Marshes, All Men Are Brothers, Men of the Marshes, or The Marshes of Mount Liang, is a novel attributed to Shi Nai’an. Considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.

The story was adopted from a true revolutionary Chinese story, set in the Song dynasty (960 - 1297), tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gathers at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army to against the corrupted government, before they eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces. It has introduced to readers many of the most well known characters in Chinese literature, such as Wu Song, Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen.

Wu Song, nicknamed “Pilgrim”,[1] is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 14th of the 36 Heavenly Spirits of the 108 Liangshan heroes. According to legend, Wu Song was a student of the martial artist Zhou Tong and he specialised in Chuojiao, Ditangquan and the use of the staff.

On his way home, Wu Song passes by a tavern near Jingyang Ridge, where a large sign reads “Do Not Cross Ridge After Three Bowls Of Wine”.This arouses his interest and he stops there for a break. The waiter explains to Wu Song that the wine sold at the tavern is so strong that customers would become drunk after having three bowls and be unable to cross the ridge ahead, hence the sign. Wu Song manages to remain sober after drinking three bowls and he demands that the waiter continue serving him wine even though the latter is reluctant. By the end of his meal, Wu Song had consumed 18 bowls of wine in total and appears tipsy. He is about to leave when the waiter stops him, warning him about the presence of a fierce man-eating tiger at Jingyang Ridge. Wu Song suspects that the waiter is lying to him because he wants him to spend the night there so as to earn extra money, so he ignores the waiter and proceeds with his journey.

While crossing Jingyang Ridge, Wu Song sees a warning sign bearing an official endorsement and is now convinced that there is really a tiger at the ridge. However, he refuses to turn back because he knows he would be scorned and laughed at by the waiter if he did.

He moves on and does really encounter a ferocious tiger while trying to take a nap to get over the effect of alcohol. While trying to fend off the beast, Wu Song accidentally breaks his staff, rending himself weaponless. Under the stimulation of alcohol, he ends up slaying the beast by pinning it to the ground and bashing its head repeatedly with his bare fists. Wu Song makes his name for the heroic deed and he is offered the post of a chief constable in Yanggu County.

According to The Oral Traditions of Yangzhou Storytelling, several popular folktales about Wu Song, from the “Wang School” of Yangzhou storytelling, state that he killed the tiger “in the middle of the tenth month” of the “Xuanhe year [1119]” (the emphasis belongs to the original author).[2] Thus, he killed the tiger in the middle of the tenth lunar month of 1119. This date, however, is a fictional one.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi In 1805, Kyokutei Bakin released a Japanese translation of the Water Margin illustrated

by Hokusai. The book, called the New Illustrated Edition of the Suikoden (Shinpen Suikogaden), was a success during the Edo period and spurred a Japanese “Suikoden� craze.

In 1827, publisher Kagaya Kichibei commissioned Utagawa Kuniyoshi to produce a series of woodblock prints illustrating the 108 heroes in Water Margin. The 1827-1830 series, called 108 Heroes of the Water Margin or Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori, catapulted Kuniyoshi to fame. It also brought about a craze for multicoloured pictorial tattoos that covered the entire body from the neck to the mid-thigh.[20]

Shang Yang (390–338 BC) An important statesman of the State of Qin during the Warring States period of Chinese history. Born Wei Yang in the State of Wei, with the support of Duke Xiao of Qin Yang enacted numerous reforms in Qin. These were in accordance with his legalist philosophy as recorded in The Book of Lord Shang and assisted Qin in its change from a peripheral state to that of a militarily powerful and strongly centralized kingdom. He changed the administration of the state through an emphasis on meritocracy and devolving power from the nobility.

Reforms The vast majority of Yang’s reforms were taken from policies instituted elsewhere, such as from Wu Qi of the State of Chu; however, Shang’s reforms were more thorough and extreme than those of other states. Under Shang’s tenure, Qin quickly caught up with and surpassed the reforms of other states.

After Duke Xiao of Qin ascended the Qin throne, Shang Yang left his lowly position in the State of Wei (to whose ruling family he had been born, but had yet to obtain a high position in) to become the chief adviser in Qin at Duke Xiao’s behest. There his changes to the state’s legal system (which were said to have built upon Li Kui’s Canon of Laws) propelled the Qin to prosperity. His policies built the foundation that enabled Qin to conquer all of China, uniting the country for the first time and ushering in the Qin dynasty.

He is credited by Han Feizi with the creation of two theories; Ding Fa (fixing the standards) Yi Min (treating the people as one) Philosophy Shang Yang believed in the rule of law and considered loyalty to the

state to be above that of the family.

Shang introduced two sets of changes to the State of Qin. The first, in 356 BC, were: Li Kui’s Book of Law was implemented, with the important addition of a rule providing punishment equal to that of the perpetrator for those aware of a crime but failing to inform the government; codified reforms into enforceable laws.

Stripping the nobility of land rights and assigning land to soldiers based upon their military successes. The army was also separated into twenty military ranks, based upon battlefield achievements.

As manpower was short in Qin, Shang encouraged the cultivation of unsettled lands and wastelands, favoring agriculture over commerce Shang introduced his second set of changes in 350 BC, which included a new standardized system of land allocation and reforms to taxation.

Domestic policies Shang introduced land reforms, privatized land, rewarded farmers who exceeded harvest quotas, enslaved farmers who failed to meet quotas, and used enslaved subjects as rewards for those who met government policies.

As manpower was short in Qin relative to the other states at the time, Shang enacted policies to increase its manpower. As Qin peasants were recruited into the military, he encouraged active immigration of peasants from other states into Qin as a replacement workforce; this policy simultaneously increased the manpower of Qin and weakened the manpower of Qin’s rivals. Shang made laws forcing citizens to marry at a young age and passed tax laws to encourage raising multiple children. He also enacted policies to free convicts who worked in opening wastelands for agriculture.

Shang abolished primogeniture and created a double tax on households that had more than one son living in the household, to break up large clans into nuclear families.

Shang moved the capital to reduce the influence of nobles on the administration.

Wang Anshi (December 8, 1021 – May 21, 1086) A Chinese economist, statesman, chancellor and poet of the Song Dynasty who attempted controversial, major socioeconomic reforms.

These reforms constituted the core concepts and motives of the Reformists, while their nemesis, Chancellor Sima Guang, led the Conservative faction against them.

Under the Song Dynasty, the unprecedented development of large estates, whose owners managed to evade paying their share of taxes, resulted in an increasingly heavy burden of taxation on the peasantry. The drop in state revenues, a succession of budget deficits, and widespread inflation prompted the Emperor Shenzong of Song to seek advice from Wang.

In economics, his reforms expanded the use of money, broke up private monopolies and introduced some forms of government regulation and social welfare. In military affairs, he supported the use of local militias; and in education and government, he expanded the examination system and tried to suppress nepotism. Though successful for a while, he eventually fell out of favor of the emperor.

Wang believed that the state has the responsibility to provide for its people the essentials for a decent living standard: “The state should take the entire management of commerce, industry, and agriculture into its own hands, with a view to succoring the working classes and preventing them from being ground into the dust by the rich.�

Wang came to power as 2nd privy councilor in 1069. It was there that he introduced and promulgated his reform policy. There were three main components to this policy: 1) state finance and trade, 2) defense and social order, and 3) education and improving of governance. Some of the finance reforms included paying cash for labor in place of corvee labor, increase the supply of copper coins, improve management of trade, direct government loan to farmers during planting seasons and to be repaid at harvest. He believed that foundation of the state rests on the well being of the common people.

To limit speculation and eliminate private monopolies, he initiated price control and regulated wages and set up pensions for the aged and unemployed. The state also began to institute public orphanages,

hospitals, dispensaries, hospices, cemeteries, and reserve granaries.

The military reform centered on a new institution of the baojia system or organized households. This was done to ensure collective responsibility in society and was later used to strengthen local defense. He also proposed the creation of systems to breed military horses, the more efficient manufacture of weapons and training of the militia.

To improve education and government, he sought to break down the barrier between clerical and official careers as well as improving their supervision to prevent connections being used for personal gain.

Tests in law, military affairs and medicine were added to the examination system, with mathematics added in 1104.

The National Academy was transformed into a real school rather than simply a holding place for officials waiting for appointments. However, there was deep-seated resistance to the education reforms as it hurt bureaucrats coming in under the old system.

Similarity of the history: Shang Yang's death

Wang’s downfall

Deeply despised by the Qin nobility, Shang Yang could not survive Duke Xiao of Qin's death. The next ruler, King Huiwen, ordered the nine familial exterminations against Shang and his family, on the grounds of fomenting rebellion. Yang had previously humiliated the new Duke "by causing him to be punished for an offense as though he were an ordinary citizen." Yang went into hiding and tried to stay at an inn. The innkeeper refused because it was against Yang's laws to admit a guest without proper identification, a law Yang himself had implemented.

Yang was executed by chelie (dismemberment, being fastened to five chariots or cattle and torn to pieces); his whole family was also executed. Despite his death, King Huiwen kept the reforms enacted

by Shang. A number of alternate versions of Shang Yang's death have survived. According to Sima Qian in his Records of the Grand Historian, Shang Yang fled to his fiefdom, where he raised a rebel army but was killed in battle. After the battle, King Hui of Qin had Yang's corpse torn apart by chariots as a warning to others.

Confucian scholars were highly opposed to Shang Yang's legalist approach.

Although Wang had the alliance of such prominent court figures as Shen Kuo, imperial scholar-officials such as Su Dongpo and Ouyang Xiu bitterly opposed these reforms on the grounds of tradition. They believed Wang’s reforms were against the moral fundamentals of the Two Emperors and would therefore prevent the Song from experiencing the prosperity and peace of the ancients. The tide tilted in favor of the conservatives due to renewed foreign conflict. He was even temporarily removed from power and imprisoned in 1075.

Like many Chinese officials of the era, Wang’s career experienced many ups and downs, but the beginning of the end came in 1074. A famine in northern China drove many farmers off their lands. Their circumstances were made worse by the debts they had incurred from the seasonal loans granted under Wang’s reform initiatives.

Local officials insisted on collecting on the loans as the farmers were leaving their land. This crisis was depicted as being Wang’s fault. The empress dowager was also an opponent of Wang. Wang wanted to resign, but the emperor still supported him, giving him high honors and an appointment to Jiangning (present-day Nanjing.)

He was recalled by the emperor the following year, but now he was seen as vulnerable and was openly attacked from groups of conservatives. Wang returned to Nanjing, which he preferred to Kaifeng. He wrote and engaged in scholarship through to his death in 1086.

With Shenzong’s death in 1085, Wang was ousted and the New Policies were rolled back - some temporarily, some permanently.

The State of Qin and Qin Dynasty (9th century b.c. –221 b.c.) was defeated and then vanished shortly after Yang’s death.

North Song Dynasty was defeated by the Jurchen people 41 years later after Wang’s death, 38 years after his New Policies were rolled back. 193 years later, Song Dynasty was defeated by the Mongolian forces, which could be seen as the fall of Chinese civilization for its first time.

In order to push his reform forward, Wang even wrote a poem with reference of Shang Yang. 自古驱民在信诚，一言为重百金轻。 今人未可非商鞅，商鞅能令政必行。 On Shang Yang Wang Anshi Since ancient times it’s great to keep faith with the people, A word of honor is mightier than the worth of gold.

Today we’d better not slander Lord Shang so much, He put through reforms with due reward and punishment. * Lord Shang Yang( ?-338 BC) is famous for his impartial administration to carry out his “New Laws” reform during the Warring States period (390-338 BC). The Confucian disciples attacked both Shang Yang and Wang Anshi for their drastic reforms. So Wang wrote this poem to rebuff those die-hards who opposed to his great reforms.

New Brief Use allusions and simple metaphors to design a poster that provides an open space for people to imagine, argue, and investigate. To effectively connect targeted audiences with the country and its system in both contemporary and historical scales. On the other hand, to treat corruption as a timeless, universal, also a traditional social problem. The poster should hopefully encourage rational thinkings from the viewers, which could also potentially encourage political/ economic fundamental changes and voices of changing from potential audiences.

Key words: History, Ancient Chinese Reforms, Corruption, Public Authority, fundamental changes, Targeted audiences: Middle-aged Chinese Intellectuals

Developments 1:

Developments 2:

Developments 3:

Developments 4:

弑 虎 乎

商今一自 鞅人言古 能未为驱 令可重民 政非百在 必商金信 行鞅轻诚

Tried my best to find two similar typefaces of Qin’s official type and Wang’s calligraphy style. It is extremely hard to find any type that can be considered close to Wang’s level of calligraphy on the market. And the difficulty of finding alternative types is so far the most troubling during the whole design process, which can also potentially create weakness for the design.

Making:

Final:

Rationale: Should we ‘patricide ’ the tigers?

(Translation of title – top right corner) Since ancient times it’s great to keep faith with the people A word of honour is mightier than the worth of gold Therefore we’d better not slander Lord Shang so much He was the man put through reforms with due reward and punishment (Translation of the poem – bottom left corner) Through the placements of one question (on an old rusty sword), a poem, and few angry tigers, this poster is specifically designed to remind and inspire the middle-aged Chinese intellectuals and well-educated youth about the corruption issues, especially about the public authority corruption. Its visual forms refer the essence of Chinese traditional media and style, besides the writing comments on one of the earliest yet the most famous ancient Chinese reformists Shang Yang (390 B.C. – 338 B.C.), which was written by another most famous one - Wang Anshi (1021 A.C. – 1086 A.C.).

By the inspiration from Hegel’s historicism, I decided to treat corruption as a timeless, universal, and most importantly a ‘traditional’ social problem that is never truly fixed, this view point is reflected by the fact that corruption is not directly mentioned or implied anywhere visually in the final production. After heavy investigations of Chinese authority corruption and the history of Chinese political reforms, I decided to only use allusions and simple metaphors in order to create an open space for people to imagine, argue, and examine.

I decided to establish a connection between the targeted audiences and the issue in both contemporary and historical scales; to start an argument, a debate rather than being self-expressive and strongly opinion based. Therefore, the idea of encouraging viewers to have rational thinking and behaviours can be achieved, which can also potentially amplify the potential audiences’ voices of changing in their self-consciousness as well as communities through debate and discussion, so the political/economic reform and fundamental changes will eventually be pushed to the very front line for the public. Then

the corruption issue can be fixed rationally and fundamentally rather than stays in the circle of history over and over. Though, these ideas enquire potential viewers to be able to decode and contextualize each element as a whole. Therefore, huge amount of population was ignored during most aspects of the design processes – especially people with lack of education, Children and non-Chinese speakers.

In the final production, both pictorial and written forms of communications are equally important and visually connected. The task of arranging them together as a whole with the Chinese traditional right-to-left reading hierarchy was very challenging; especially when the needs of dynamic, simplicity and strong visual impression/ aesthetic were desired in the same time with under the modern standard. Pictorial-wise, I used closures, diagonal indications and uneven positive and negative (triangular) spaces to create dynamic.

I chose one layered and coloured woodblock printing on newsprint as media for the need of simplicity and effective manufactures. On the other hand, the studies of Japanese woodblock printing styles and application of organic ink drawing style helped me to establish a unique set of aesthetic.