April 18, 2007

Chinese New Year Chubby Baby Posters

nianhua_slandsberger.jpg

It's not just for space programs anymore. Stefan Landsberger has a great collection and a bit of history of the New Year picture, nianhua, which was a Chinese folk tradition co-opted by the Communist Party for its own propaganda campaigns.

A whole vocabulary of symbols swirls around each composition, just waiting to be decoded, but at the center, there's always the chubby baby of good fortune for the upcoming year.

All I know is what I read in the websites, but this stuff looks great to me, in doses [I guess you could get weary if, say, there were 800 million nurseries stuffed with them.] But then again, I'm an egg, yellow on the inside. I'm interested how the actually Asian daddytypes out there see this kind of stuff. At least before I start snapping them up on eBay and turning them into Onesie decorations.

update: dt reader Mark points to zitantique, which has a big gallery of Chubby Baby posters for sale. Most are $49.

Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Posters - New Years Prints and Chubby Babies [iisg.nl]

1 Comment

I'm only half Asian and a mommy but I think these are pretty awesome. Now, if you were trying to market them as perfect for decorating your new adopted Asian baby's nursery, I might be creeped out. But probably only a little. They're really, really nice.

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