The "Renting Collection Courtyard" is from the "class education museum" in Dayi County Sichuang Province. The collection depicts the story of a struggling lower class forced to pay dues to a tyrant landowner, Wencai Liu, before 1949. These paintings were rendered from clay figurines also depicting the same story, and hand-painted onto porcelain vases.
A total distortion of a folk legend, the fabricated stories of rent collection and water dungeons told in the drama "Liu Wencai" were both used as tools to "educate" people to hate landlords. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Communist party commonly used scare tactics such as this to demonize their enemies.
According to Communist Propaganda, Wencai Liu relied on the regime of the Kuomintang to act cruelly to the people under his care, some even dared to call him "Hades."
The "Renting Collection Courtyard" is a sixteen piece set. Each piece is 44 cm. high with a 16 cm diameter and features an illustrative mural on one side with the corresponding story on the reverse. Drawn and designed by artist, Zhang Lan, who specialized in story artwork like this, his company, Jingdeizhen City Porcelain Research Institute, specially made this collection for the Jingdeizhen "class clash education museum" museum.
If you would like to make an appointment to see these vases in person, please contact Lynn Tang at LBWtang@yahoo.com or call (310) 265-0986.
Front
Back
Front
Back
First Piece
Notorious for overcharging, for every 1 shi (Chinese measurement) of top-grade millet rice, Liu charges 7.8 dou instead. He uses a custom made flywheel wind paddy machine to blow the rice to sort through the husks and grains, and everything left on the ground, even good quality rice, is counted as shell (worthless), and kept by the landowner.
Second Piece
Here, a man's rent is not enough, and Wencai Liu forces the old man to sign an agreement by pressing his fingerprint onto a document, thereby selling his able-bodied son as a slave. Afterwards, the man is beaten on the ground.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Third Piece
A renter's family can no longer bear the hunger.
Fourth Piece
Before the vessel, an old man holds millet in both hands. An entire year's worth of hardship cannot fill the landowner's measuring vessel.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Fifth Piece
A granddaughter is frightened, seeing her grandfather on the ground after being kicked by one of Wencai Liu's foremen, directly translated "dog leg." Her grandmother stands over them, tired and hungry.
Sixth Piece
An old blindman, who gives all his foodstuffs to the landowner, does not have enough to pay rent. The landowner gives him a slip of paper which he believes is a receipt, when it is in fact a certificate verifying he has sold his grandchild.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Seventh Piece
Wencai Liu drinks only human's milk everyday. If a woman is unable to pay rent, his "dog leg" will take her to the adytum, the innermost sanctuary of a temple, and force her to produce milk, while hauling her baby and the baby's grandmother away.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Eighth Piece
Two farmers are finally able to fille the vessel to the brim, but because of the weight, they angrily cry, "the landowner's heart is too black."
Ninth Piece
Believing she has enough for rent, the woman is happy to bring her basket to the landlord, only to find that after running her rice through the blowing machine, her measurement is not enough. Disheartened, she and her daughter return carrying another basket to fulfill her rent.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Tenth Piece
The "dog leg" berates an old farmer and strikes his millet to the ground.
Eleventh Piece
The Renting Collection Courtyard is a dangerous spot. In order to deliver their millet, the renters must pass four tests. The millet is tested by force, the wind blowing machine, weighing and counting.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Twelfth Piece
The wind machine's output is not millet, but the farmer's blood.
Thirteenth Piece
A child cries for her grandmother who is in jail for not paying rent. Translation: Does she want to live this type of life? We will eradicate the exploit system someday!
Front
Back
Front
Back
Fourteenth Piece
A widowed lady's child has a bone disability and suffers from malnutrition. Her child is as thin as a skeleton.
Fifteenth Piece
The injustice has passed the point of endurance and the young farmers attempt to fight back against the landowner.
Front
Back
Front
Back
Sixteenth Piece
Triumph at last, the workers and farmers revolt and capture the landowner Wencai Liu.