THESIS
2018
ix, 87, that is, x, 87 pages ; 30 cm
Abstract
This research examines the origin and development of the communist propaganda machine in
Guangzhou and Hong Kong from 1936 to the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Drawing on
archives and personal accounts, I argue that the communist propaganda cadres in Guangzhou
and Hong Kong formed an institutional network that influenced the ideological system in
South China throughout the mid-twentieth century. Before 1949, Hong Kong leftist
newspapers, news agency, schools and united front organization trained propaganda workers
who would play a major role in both Hong Kong and Guangzhou after 1949. In the early PRC,
the majority of these workers moved to Guangzhou and helped cadres from North China to
set up propaganda apparatuses quickly, and surprisingly managed to run newspapers with
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This research examines the origin and development of the communist propaganda machine in
Guangzhou and Hong Kong from 1936 to the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Drawing on
archives and personal accounts, I argue that the communist propaganda cadres in Guangzhou
and Hong Kong formed an institutional network that influenced the ideological system in
South China throughout the mid-twentieth century. Before 1949, Hong Kong leftist
newspapers, news agency, schools and united front organization trained propaganda workers
who would play a major role in both Hong Kong and Guangzhou after 1949. In the early PRC,
the majority of these workers moved to Guangzhou and helped cadres from North China to
set up propaganda apparatuses quickly, and surprisingly managed to run newspapers with
Hong Kong characteristics. Workers who stayed behind in Hong Kong developed a distinctly
soft and practical propaganda style to win the hearts and minds of local people and negotiate
with colonial authorities, but they were still deeply influenced by their former colleagues in
Guangdong that built many previously-unnoticed institutions to control leftist propaganda in
Hong Kong after 1949. They also frequently sent staff and their children to Guangzhou for
training and education, which in effect enhanced the flow of personnel. This border-crossing
connection strengthened the efficacy of communist propaganda in both cities in the 1950s and
influenced cultural and political events in later periods, demonstrating the power of
this institutionalized cross-region communist ideological system.
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