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A person pushes a metal cart along a city street. Behind them, a large blue billboard shows a digital render of a modern city skyline and green parkland.

Funny project documents China’s strange public service announcement posters

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Date
13 August 2015

Over time, Derek Man Lui has become something of our personal window into the social and cultural phenomena unique to China; the last time we checked in with him it was to find out about his project Bird’s Eye China, in which he looked at Chinese society through the prism of Baidu Maps.

In his new series The Perfect Window he takes public service announcements – surreal bright blue and green landscapes bearing bubble script of public messages – and removes them from their context to view them in a new and strange light. He’s even tried his hand at making a few, using them to send messages like “health is wealth” and “we’re happy and we know it,” which are scattered in with the original shots. Smart, simple and insightful.

A person walks past a large blue FamilyMart advertisement on a city wall. The mural features a small illustration of a store and white Chinese characters that read “全家就是你家 欢迎回家”.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

Three people walk past a white wall where a small, bright poster is pasted. The poster shows a green field under a blue sky with the text “WE’RE HAPPY AND WE KNOW IT!”.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

A person leans against a doorway next to a building wall featuring two large banners. The top red banner contains white Chinese text, and the larger blue banner below shows a landscape with sunflowers and further text.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

A person in a blue uniform and cap walks along a street, carrying a broom and a dustpan. Behind them is a large billboard showing a green landscape and a city skyline under red Chinese characters.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

A person walks past a large billboard, carrying a large blue plastic water bottle. The billboard shows two people in hard hats standing in a green field under a blue sky.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

A person sits on a concrete ledge beside a utility box wrapped in a landscape image of wind turbines and green fields. Behind them, a large grey wall features white Chinese characters and the word “SOHO China”.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

A person in a yellow dress and white platform sandals walks past a large blue billboard. The billboard features a city skyline and red Chinese characters that read “欢迎您”.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

A person wearing a straw hat rides a bicycle past a large billboard. The billboard shows two hands forming a heart shape over a green landscape with Chinese text.
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Derek Man Lui: The Perfect Window

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

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Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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