Rural Election

Rural Election (豆选) is a woodcut art created by Yan Han in 1948 after he led teachers and students of North China Union University to join the land-reform movement. Later the artwork was chosen by National People's Congress and was placed in Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, embodying the people are the masters of the country. Rural Election is the representative work of Yan Han, and the story was based on the land-reform movement in Dahe village, Julu County, Hebei province. Due to the lack of literacy, the folks used bean as votes to carry out the election. The scene of the primal democratic election was caught by artist’s eye and was presented in the form of woodcut art, which reveals the substantial changes in China’s villages.