Cartoon Posters: Comic Images, Social Criticism

The following images are from a series of cartoon posters that deals with the themes of family planning policy and its practice, popular science and better babies, healthy birth and good care of children, marriage and family, and population and the society. (Produced by Beijing Children’s Fine Arts Association, Beijing Family Planning Education Center, and Beijing Family Planning Association; n.d., ca. 1991; title inscription of the series was by cartoonist Hua Junwu 华君武).

Population and the Society (part of a set of 10 cartoon posters)
人口与社会

From top left, clockwise:

• “移居” “Migration”—“Please bring us along; we can’t live here any longer,” says Mother Panda. Created by Yang Hongxu 杨洪旭;
• 练琴去 “Go practice piano” (the boy was having fun playing soccer but the mother would not let him), created by Jiang Fan 江帆;
• 父子俩都别看 “Don’t read, father and son” (the wife dominates at home), created by Jing Ma 金马;
• 二柱子，娶媳妇花多少钱? “Erzhuzi, how much does it cost you to get a wife?” 用了我一个妹妹. “My sister.” (It is a custom for man to give gifts to the woman’s family before the marriage is decided); created by Xu Pengfei 徐鹏飞;
• 生的起，养不起 “Able to have babies but not afford to raise them” (all the babies need to be fed, but there is shortage of milk), created by Chen Dingyuan 陈定远;
• 妹妹你大胆地往前走 “Sister, move along bravely!” (no one at the recruiting center wants to hire a woman), created by Yuan Guozheng 袁国镇;
• 家里的首席观众 “The number one audience at home,” created by Ding Chong 丁聪.