Linda Zhang

In the early 1950s, the People’s Republic of China embarked on a multi-generational project to create a modernized, socialist society. In my dissertation work, I will analyze the forms and strategies of Chinese animated film, science education film, and popular periodicals produced during the 1950s and 1960s. My project proposes that these materials, targeting younger generations, together projected a discourse and vision of the PRC as a modernized participant on a global stage dominated by Cold War tensions. By focusing on children’s media, my project calls attention to the creative modes of early PRC science education and everyday media culture—reflecting the imaginative power of the future, national subjects they aimed to mold.