Paper Tiger

Recalling adolescent activism…

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Anton: A friend I found recently on social media I had known wrote a poem. Back in the mid-60s, at university.

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Paul: About you?

Mai Long, 1958:
Chinese poster

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Anton: He referred to me as a tiger. But “a paper tiger”.

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Paul: Like you weren’t a real tiger?

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Anton: But he finished it with “Then we saw this paper tiger had atomic teeth.” At the time I thought it was a most original metaphor for my wannabe activism.

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Paul: And then you found out that it was a Mao metaphor.

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Anton: Yes. It hadn’t been such an original poem after all. Perhaps he meant that my activism wasn’t so original either.

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Voice-over

Mao’s reference to paper tiger in 1956 was to reactionaries, American imperialism, the atomic bomb. Called them paper tigers meaning they weren’t as dangerous as they looked. But the bomb, well that could be dangerous. Hence the Khrushchevian reference to atomic teeth.

Propaganda poster by Mai Long from 1958. Man wearing a tiger’s mask and holding an American flag. Chinese farmers, soldiers and workers ridiculing him.

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