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Introduction
In China's rural areas, a landscape of art can be seen everywhere. That is, all kinds of propaganda slogans are painted on the outer walls of people's houses (Figure 1). This art constitutes an outdoor disseminating form, painted with lime or oil colour materials. On enclosing walls at the end of villages, in front of the houses, near the rivers or on both sides of the road, highly-visible wall slogans are frequent. Their disseminating scope covers not only Chinese rural areas, but rural-urban fringe zones as well (Li, 2009). In Chinese cities, this phenomenon has basically disappeared. However, in Chinese rural areas, where television and even the Internet have become all pervading, wall slogans still occupy a very particular and important position. These slogans serve as an important bridge between the central government and grassroots peasants. The artwork communicates and transmits information, reflecting a concentrated snapshot of China's political environment and even a mirror of the social times in which these people live. The changes in the family planning slogans serve as witness to the changing times in China.
Figure 1.
Rural wall slogan: 'Family planning, binding on all'.
[Figure Omitted; See PDF]A slogan is a phrase of brief and striking words, often displayed in public, with specific persuasive purposes (Gong, 2004). The word 'slogan' in English corresponds to two similar words in Chinese, '[...]' (slogan) and '[...]' (catchword). When a slogan is chanted in public, it is called a 'catchword'; when it is written, it is called a 'slogan'; when written on streamers or flags, it becomes a banner; when written on papers and hung up, it even becomes a poster.
The wide distribution of Chinese slogans, coupled with their enormous quantity, complicated contents, rich forms, and close relationship to social life are extremely rare in the life history of world languages (Han, 2008). Hu Shi (1928) once exclaimed that 'China has become a world of slogans.' Regarding the Chinese slogan culture, Sinologist Perry Link (2013) finely analysed its features of rich rhythm, conceptual metaphor and political language. However, Chinese natives are submerged in the slogan culture and therefore they are not always aware of the significance of the slogans they are...