Revolutionary Mothers, Child Heroes, and Influential Gender Roles in Lianhuanhua from the Mao Era

This paper evaluates how illustrated storybooks, or lianhuanhua, introduced Chinese children to gender roles during the 1960s and 1970s, beginning shortly before the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). While scholars have considered gender in Chinese revolutionary posters and dramas, they have yet to explore depictions of femininity and masculinity in children’s stories. Mao-era lianhuanhua reveal a range of gendered representations, ranging from independent Iron Girls and sent-down youth to revolutionary mothers and more traditional role models such as grandmothers. Moreover, they often foregrounded close parent-child relationships, contrasting to the lyrics of the popular revolutionary children’s song, “Father and Mother Are Dear, but Not as Dear as Chairman Mao.” This paper thus argues that lianhuanhua narratives demonstrate how the Chinese communists appropriated and reinforced aspects of traditional Chinese families. Even when state rhetoric touted its transformation of families, lianhuanhua and other children’s literature illustrate the limitations of the revolution’s ability to profoundly alter familial structures.