The museum was basically a shrine to Mao and the propaganda that was filtered around the country from 1949 on. They had original wood cut prints of some of the posters as well as some reproductions. It was most interesting to us how they portrayed the Americans. Almost all of the Chinese were stomping on the Americans, who were wounded, green colored and suffering. The had several images with Mao that also had Lennon and Stalin in them. They also had images of other countries stomping on the US. They had images of Vietnamese, Cubans, Africans, all kinds of people that were supposedly oppressed by the Americans. In the very back of the museum they had posters from when people would 'out' others for being 'rightists.' These were large Chinese calligraphy posters with writings of who was not a true Communist. The inscription on the wall said the posters were from a person who was in college during this time and he never thought that these horrible posters would be considered a work of art someday, let alone hang in a museum.
The gift shop of this museum had actual red army paraphernalia. You could buy a red army jacket or red arm band that proclaimed Mao's thoughts and the unification of the people. They also had original prints in smaller forms and books of Mao's teachings. It was a very eye opening experience that let you into a part of China's history that most of us think should be long forgotten.
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