China Books - Visual Language LLC

Coming soon to Etsy

Each of my four visits to the People’s Republic of China, from 2002 to 2011 — inspired a new booklet. Ranging from 32 to 48 pages, they document the huge changes taking place. China transformed itself from a state of Mao-jacket-wearing people for whom bicycles were the main form of individual transportation, to a sports-crazy society caught up in hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, to a somewhat capitalist-leaning nation that, in major cities like Shanghai, seemed more technologically advanced than the U.S.

China Trip 1 is about traditions and landmarks — the Forbidden City, the Great Wall. I photographed museums, restaurants, people playing games in hutong (alleyway) communities, acres of bicycle parking, and shops ranging from streetside cigarette vendors to wholesale art markets.

China Trip 2 focuses on preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games — at Beijing shopping malls, where Nike shops had replaced emporiums for silk fabrics; at CAFA, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where the branding and design work for the Olympics — identity guidelines, banners, signage, uniforms — was being made; and in Qingdao, the beachside city where the Chinese watersports and sailing teams were coming in for a great celebration.

China Trip 4 celebrates Yan and Alex’s Chinese-Jewish wedding in Beijing , now the capital of a country that’s more open, where statues of Buddha had been uncovered and people were free to be curious about other cultures and about religion and spirituality.; where parking lots for Audis seemed to be more prevalent than those for bicycles; and where Apple Stores and Starbucks are not curiosities any more, but necessities.

China Book 3, shown here, is about one event, the 2009 Icograda World Design Congress in Beijing, For four days, 1500 graphic designers from all over the world met at venues including the “Egg,” which was built for the Olympics, and for lectures and presentations at CAFA, where Chinese design students were eager to learn. about creativity from Europeans, Japanese, Koreans, Latin Americans, and North Americans.

Students from all over China were not only treated to a major exhibition on the history of graphic design at the National Art Museum, they heard from an international group of speakers who introduced them to Western concepts of creativity and innovation, and told them that artistic expression does not have to be based on imitation of the great masters.

Panelists in this session warned students “not to graduate educated in the old way” and that it’s not disrespectful to challenge your professors and ask questions “just like they do in Europe and the U.S.”

The playful, colorful work of São Paulo-based designer/illustrator Kiko Farkas was enthusiastically applauded, as was that of designers from Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Berlin, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.

At, CAFA, an exhibition of winners in Foundertype’s Chinese Type Design Competition.

When the conference ended, Yan Zhang, then Alex’s fiancée, took me to the 798 Arts District, where artists like “The Revolution Guys” were expressing their love-hate relationships with China’s political history and iconography. A visit to Grifted, a shop that helped make Mao a pop icon, made me wonder whether Chairman Mao — should he be reincarnated — would send a Thought Re-education Team of Red Guards to denounce the store owners and destroy their property. Current government workers, however, given the shiny black Audis and BMWs they drive, might pull out a platinum card and buy a Warhol-style throw pillow with multiples of Mao’s face or a reproduction of a Big Character Poster.

I’ve always been interested in the power of posters to influence and mold thought. From 1966 through 1976, each Chinese citizen was expected to participate in the Cultural Revolution by covering large sheets of paper with slogans like, “Wherever Chairman Mao Points, There I Will Run” and posting them. Although 2009’s posters said things like “Get Rich Through Foreign Investment and ”Buy Coca-Cola and Enjoy Delicious Food,” I investigated and studied the most iconic Big-Character posters. Here are a few examples from China Book 3:

More books by Ellen Shapiro