The Story
The two flying-saucer drawings fit Mao-era futuristic art, but the booklet’s exact date remains unidentified.
The two saucer-like drawings fit the visual language of futuristic optimism found in Mao-era propaganda. The evidence can place the booklet in a broad 1960s–1980s print culture, but the photographed pages lack the bibliographic clues needed to date this particular item.
- DatingA precise year requires the booklet’s title page, colophon, publisher, or identifiable political references.
- ContextThe images may depict technological progress or an imagined prosperous future rather than extraterrestrial visitors.
- The originating post gives no title, provenance, region, publisher, or year for the booklet, leaving its exact date unresolved.
- Mao-era Chinese propaganda posters and illustrated materials commonly promoted a bright future and circulated from the 1950s until the early 1980s.
- Documented Communist propaganda booklet sets cover 1963–1984 and 1970–1976, showing that the format existed throughout the likely period.
Deeper Insight
A futuristic promise became a saucer-shaped picture of tomorrow; the missing date is part of the mystery.
Two saucers in a political booklet turn a promise of technological modernity into a strange visual question: who gets to imagine the future, and in whose language? China’s UFO culture emerged alongside reform in the late 1970s, so the images sit near a real shift in public imagination, but the sources do not identify this booklet or prove an extraterrestrial reading.
- ImaginationThe drawings show how political art could borrow futuristic forms to make progress visible and emotionally immediate.
- TimingIf the booklet dates to the late 1970s, it would sit near the emergence of public Chinese UFOlogy; that remains a possibility, not an identification.
- Chinese UFOlogy began publicly in the late 1970s, alongside the reform period, according to a historical study of UFO culture in China.
- The originating discussion includes a straightforward reading of the drawings as futuristic propaganda, while also showing that commenters lack the booklet’s context.
- A documented Jiangxi Communist University propaganda booklet was printed on October 20, 1977, demonstrating that small political booklets from this transition period can be precisely dated when archival details survive.
Sources · 7
Featured · Analysis · reddit.com
UFOS in a old Chinese communist propaganda book
Two interestingly shaped ufos, wonder what the age of this booklet is Top comments: - It's simply propaganda depicting a futuristic and prosperous future, and flying saucers must be at least the most futuristic thing popular at that time. - no context or anything? Where's the book from, what region? what year? anything else interesting in it? - Glorious China you have abandoned the proletarian rev
Read sourceAnalysis · bostonreviewofbooks.substack.com
书籍考古 | “两个凡是”期间江西共大的宣传小册 - 波士頓書評 Boston Review of Books
书籍考古 | “两个凡是”期间江西共大的宣传小册 - 波士頓書評 Boston Review of Books # 波士頓書評 Boston Review of Books 书籍考古 | “两个凡是”期间江西共大的宣传小册 ## 书籍考古 | “两个凡是”期间江西共大的宣传小册 波士頓書評 Boston Review of Books May 08, 2026 Transcript 在哈佛燕京图书馆，偶然看到一个小册子。这份小册子题为《誓把无产阶级革命进行到底！》，由中共江西共产主义劳动大学（简称江西共大）大批判组于1977年10月20日印制。 1976年10月6日，毛泽东去世仅一个月后，华国
Read sourceAnalysis · doi.org
On UFOlogy with Chinese Characteristics and the Fate of Chinese Socialism
# On UFOlogy with Chinese Characteristics and the Fate of Chinese Socialism Made in China Journal. Published: 2020-10-16. 0 citations. ## Authors - Malcolm Thompson: corresponding author ## Topics - Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices - Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs --- ## On UFOlogy with
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