Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Voting with Beans, 1 946, Hebei At this time, China was in the midst of civil war and was d ivided into the Guomindang­ controlled areas and the liberated areas controlled by the Commun ist Party. This poster is saying that in the liberated areas, people can enjoy equal ity, freedom and democracy. In the picture, the emancipated peasants are voting. At the time, most peasants were illiterate so they had to vote using a bean to register their vote instead of the ballot paper. The cadre sitting under the banner on which the words 'serve the people' are written, is passing a bean to the voters. The people with their backs to the voters are the candidates. They cannot see who is placing the beans down for them. This is a secret ballot, symbolising freedom . The female voter who is placing her bean in the bowl of a female candidate symbolises equality. The candidate wearing a kind of skullcap that resembles a rind of half a watermelon , is a landlord . At the time, the agrarian revolution was not yet completed so landlords had not yet begun to be executed. They still had the right to vote and to stand for selection . But we cannot tell whether there is anyone voting for the landlord, probably no-one is, because the assistant of another candidate is holding up a placard reminding the voters to 'watch carefully who the candidate is before you down your bean .' The little girl with her younger brother on her back is only a ch ild so she can't vote. But from watching the others, she sees, and is eager for, her future. Fifty years have now passed . I guess that the little girl has retired by now, but she still has not gone beyond the future that she was eagerly awaiting . I am sure all of you know that so far the PRC has not yet held a general election in the sense that we understand the term . The Future of the Motherland, 1 948, Harbin This is the th ird year of the Civil War. The Chinese Communist Party was in the process of constructing a 'new China' on the foundation of the war in which around 8 million people sacrificed their lives. In the picture, these two 'futures of the motherland' are design ing the future of their motherland . The future of the motherland needs railways, agriculture, water conservation, forestry, electric power and shipping as well as skyscrapers. They have even thought of postal services. What then, does the poster say is not needed in the future? We don't need American devils . This sweet country girl is sweeping away the American devils and Chiang Kai-shek from China. I Love McDonalds, 1 991 , Beij i ng The American devils are back with their money. On the first day McDonalds landed in Beij ing it d ragged in 1 3,2 1 9 customers, going well beyond the world record it established in Moscow. I use the word 'land ing', a word associated with war, because the words in the picture say that Chinese people call this ship the 'McDonalds Naval Cruiser' and refer to the salesman of this junk food as 'Uncle McDonald'. That day was undoubtedly the D-Day of the Cold War: goodbye Uncle PLA soldier and hello Uncle McDonald. One Dollar or 1 ,000 Dollars, 1 991 , Shaoshan Strictly speaking this is not a poster. It is a computer-generated image sold to tourists in Shaoshan, Mao Zedong's home town . Mao Zedong or Washington, 'One Dollar' or 1 ,000 Dollars' united to form another future: Mao is the Chinese God . Ch inese God united with the American dollar is the marriage of the spiritual to the material, creating a double superpower. As the Sun Rises, the Waves on the River Glisten Brighter Than Fire, 1 998, Beij i ng Two national flags become one at the end of the millennium. Here we have two eggs, one American and one Chinese, u nder Picasso's Dove ofPeace, an image that proclaims from now on we are entering a honeymoon era that goes well beyond the turn of the century. The poster is propagating J iang Zemin's popularity. It points out that the American appra isal of him during h is trip to the States is that 'he is very cool'. Very cool' was a popular English expression used in China that year. Also that year the phrase 'Oh my God' uttered in English was a hit. Its Chinese version of pronunciation, however, was similar to OMEGA, so it sounded like they were talking about a watch . 30 . .