Mark Rowswell, Is That Really You?

One reader, 大山, posed a handful of great questions in response to my last post on slogans. I will respond to them in the order they were asked:

Question #1: How does one get a slogan banner in China?
Just yesterday I walked across the street to a small printing shop and told the boss I wanted to make a banner. He looked a bit perplexed at first, but I simply explained to him that I like Chinese-style slogans and I wanted to make one for my room. He nodded and then asked me what I wanted the banner to say. It was as easy as that.

Question #2: They all look virtually the same, so I wonder if they're produced by one company or network of state-owned companies. Can any 单位 request one?
If I can request and print a huge banner, then anyone can. I’d guess that the market structure of suppliers for this service looks something like the photo printing market; On the one hand you have Kodak, a large brand-name company who works with relatively high quality materials and on many relatively high-end demands. On the other hand, however, you have a countless number of private no-name shops that run on the exact same business model, just at a lower cost and with less resources/facilities, which means cheaper prices for the consumer. So, while some larger government bureaus may go to the Kodak shop of slogan banners, I presume most offices or departments visit the mom-and-pop variety. I did ask the owner of the shop where I printed my banner if government people come by for the same purpose, and he said, “sometimes.”


Question #3: Is there an approved list of slogans or can you propose your own?
If you want to hang your banner on the wall of your living room like I did, you can print anything you want. If you intend on hanging the banner in a public space, however, and you don’t want to get arrested, then I’m sure you need to seek approval from the appropriate bureau. I’m pretty sure that all government agencies at a certain level have the autonomy to print and promote any propaganda within their district that conforms to their purpose or mission. I will investigate further on this though…

Question #4: Is there a gov't agency that decides who gets what banner and how long they stay up for?
I’m not so clear on the structure and hierarchy of the government at these local levels, but I’m sure the 宣传部, propaganda department (whether every office and bureau has its own, or whether it exists independent of other agencies), makes these decisions. Again, further research needed…

Question #5: Who pays for the banner production?
The cost of material and labor for printing banners is cheap, and we all know there is zero effort or money invested in design. In this light, I don’t think payment is that big of an issue for government bodies that want to hang a few red streamers of policy and truth. But again, I’ll see if I can find out that real answer…

Question #6: How much does a banner cost?
5 meters of the quality banner I got costs just 25 rmb. For that price, I’m thinking about decorating my whole house!

And for those that are interested, my banner reads 饭桶不再大, 有胃则名. Here, we can actually learn a good lesson about the value of proof-reading, editing, and corroborating. Especially as a non-native Chinese speaker, I should be asking my buddies if what I’m writing in Mandarin is correct or not. Most of the time, I can assure you there are no errors. But sometimes, as ‘apedant’ has so helpfully pointed out, I’m off. One of the characters on the huge banner should be 在, not 再. But anyway, my attempted slogan is a play on words, or parody of part of a famous Chinese poem that begins, “山不在高, 有仙则名,” which means that a mountain may not be tall, but if there’s an immortal living on its ridges, or in its caves, or on its peaks, then it’ll be famous. The poem continues: “水不在深, 有龙则灵,” or, a lake needn’t be deep; it has supernatural power so long as there is a dragon in it. My version, which I think may be clever enough to force an amendment of the original poem, says that an eating machine doesn’t have to be big; as long as he’s got a stomach, then he’ll have a reputation.