Lei Feng

Lei Feng (18 December 1940 – 15 August 1962), born Lei Zhengxing, was a Chinese soldier in the People's Liberation Army who was the object of several major propaganda campaigns in China. The most well-known of these campaigns in 1963 promoted the slogan "Follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng." Lei was portrayed as a model citizen, and the masses were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao Zedong. In the following years, Lei Feng was portrayed as a symbol and model of party revolution by both the Chinese Communist Party and Government of China. For decades, he promoted the "Learn from Lei Feng as a Model" in the media. Political ideology closely follows the Chinese Communist Party, actively helping others in work and daily life, practicing frugality and thrift, and upholding the socialist spirit of "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" which is known as the Lei Feng spirit. After Mao's death, Chinese state media continued to promote Lei Feng as a model of earnestness and service, and his image still appears in popular forms such as on T-shirts and memorabilia.

The biographic details of Lei Feng's life, and especially his diary, supposedly discovered after his death, are generally believed to be propaganda creations; even the historicity of Lei Feng himself is sometimes questioned. The continuing use of Lei in government propaganda has become a source of cynicism and even derision amongst segments of the Chinese population. Nevertheless, Lei's function as a propaganda icon has survived decades of political change in China.