Resolutely cut off the bloody and criminal hand of the American aggressor

[dr_hermes]

A Chinese government poster from 1951. Again, with the accusation that the imperialist lackeys of the Wall Street ruling class (that is, the Americans) are spreading germs as a form of warfare against the Chinese. That's some strong imagery there, and it's a well-made bayonet that can cut through a rat and a human wrist in one stroke. In addition

Comments

[m_faustus]

Jack London wrote a short story about the Western nations killing all China off with germ warfare and then splitting up the territory. That Jack, what a card.

[dr_hermes]

Wild imagination, Jack. I used to think of him as someone who just wrote rugged tales of survival in the wilderness. Then I found stories like "The Shadow and the Flash" and THE STAR ROVER, where a man relives his previous incarnations. And I realized what a wild and crazy guy he was.

I'm not certain where this recurring theme of the Western devils spreading disease germs came from. My guess might be it was a way to give an urgency to the need to vaccinate, clean up mosquito breeding pools, that sort of thing, by giving the program an external face.

[full_metal_ox]

And such a story could readily have served as Exhibit A for Chinese propagandists and conspiracy theorists.

[dr_hermes]

True enough. I've seen a number of references in history books when various governments took fiction from enemy nations as being based on fact.