1967 Chinese Anti-U.S. Propaganda Broadside Map of Vietnam

This is a c. 1967 Chinese anti-American propaganda broadside created by Zhu Yu Lian. The map depicts the region from Laos and Cambodia to the South China Sea and from China to the Cà Mau Peninsula. Both North and South Vietnam are illustrated, with North Vietnam shaded a more muted shade of red than South Vietnam. Three colors are present in South Vietnam: red, teal, and white. The red areas denote territory that had be 'liberated' by the North Vietnamese, the teal represents areas controlled by the United States, and the white colored white are regions where guerillas are active against the Americans, most likely meaning that control changes hands daily, depending upon whether it is daytime or nighttime. Major United States Air Force bases are marked by symbols of airplanes inscribed in black circles, while major naval installations are noted by much the same symbol, except the airplane is exchanged for an anchor. Roads and highways are illustrated and labeled, and provinces are outlined by dotted lines. One of the two keys situated in the lower right corner explains the different notations used, while the other provides the names of the twelve provinces in South Vietnam.

Two textboxes on the map provide statistics as to how much damage has been done to the forces of the United States by Noth Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces. One such textbox, situated near Hainan, states that between August 1964 and January 31, 1966, North Vietnamese military and civilians downed 857 American aircraft and is accompanied by an illustration of a U.S. airplane going down in flames. The second textbox, in the lower left corner, highlights 'the brilliant achievements of the people of South Vietnam in the past five years from 1961 to 1965'. In this data, it is stated that in these five years, 22,766 U.S. servicemen had been killed, 3,260 enemy (American) aircraft had been shot down, 994 ships had been sunk, 4,035 enemy (American) vehicles had been damaged, and 72,769 various weapons had been seized. A caveat is present in parentheses at the bottom in small print that states that these numbers are all 'according to incomplete statistics'. A graph below this second text box illustrates the steady, and then exponential, increase in U.S. troop strength in Vietnam between 1961 and 1967, and ends with a projection that soon 200,000 U.S. troops would be deployed in South Vietnam.

This map was created by Zhu Yu Lian and it is unclear exactly who published it and, since it is undated, exactly when it was published.