This vase depicts a team of educated youths— urban students sent down to the countryside to learn from the peasants. Some worked as members of mobile projection teams that brought film and music to the countryside as part of Mao’s plan to popularize the arts. Naturally, the model performances were standard fare shown across the country. Many Chinese living in rural areas became familiar with the yangbanxi through the efforts of these projection teams and traveling theatre troupes, who similarly put on performances in the countryside.
