People’s Daily Releases Epic Illustration for 40 Years of Opening and Reform

Space exploration, the country’s first KFC, and pop starlets TFBoys all feature in a pretty incredible illustration from People’s Daily, which the Party propaganda “newspaper” dropped on their Weibo account this week as China marked 40 years since Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening up” policies began.

While another Party leader seems intent on hogging the limelight during the celebrations, this modern day scroll does at least pay tribute to Deng (very briefly), along with such other landmarks as the development of the country’s railways, hosting of the 2008 Olympics and, err, the advent of “public square dancing”, i.e. groups of older ladies dancing in formation in public areas.

Naturally, as a piece of propaganda, it only focuses on the rosier side of China’s history over the past four decades and thus has to be taken with a pinch of MSG, but it’s still worth a look: