"To Read Too Many Books is Harmful" (Mao Zedong)
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24.
Zhou Ruizhuang
1965, February
Create a new type of worker capable both in culture and struggle - Intellectualize the working people
Zuo yige nengwen nengwude xinxing laodongzhe - laodong renmin zhishihua
Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 2nd edition, print no. T8081.9256
Call number: BG E13/887
25.
Zhou Yizhu
1983, January
Regulations for staff and workers - Four: Exert oneself in study; raise the level of politics, culture, science and technology, and professional work
Zhigong shouze - Si, nuli xuexi, tigao zhengzhi, wenhua, keji, yewu shuiping
Renmin meishu chubanshe, print no. 8027.8503
Call number: BG E13/277
The change in intellectual atmosphere that occurred after Mao's death created a desire to become more professional. This change probably is best illustrated by a comparison of the two posters above. To name but one element, the trope of struggle still very much present in the 1965 poster was traded in for the officially supported endeavour to professionalize in 1983. Study no longer was seen as something to be done between shifts, but as an activity all by itself.
