Each chapter in the China Story Yearbook is introduced by a pictorial motif. They are:
China Story Yearbook Introduction Motif
Introduction: head of a dragon, inspired by a dragon boat at the Yihe Yuan Summer Palace in Beijing.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 1 Motif
Chapter 1: map of the South China Sea.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 2 Motif
Chapter 2: the leaf of a gingko tree, a reference to the mass planting of gingkos during Bo Xilai’s tenure as Party Secretary of Chongqing.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 3 Motif
Chapter 3: a crab with three watches. The ‘river crab’ (hexie 河蟹) is a mocking reference to ‘harmonising’ (hexie 和谐) or Chinese government censorship on the Internet. The three watches (san ge biao 三个表) is a pun on the ‘three represents’ (sange daibiao 三个代表) Jiang Zemin-era Party theoretical formulation of the year 2000 that declared: ‘the Party must always represent the requirements of the development of China’s advanced productive forces, the orientation of the development of China’s advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China.’
China Story Yearbook Chapter 4 Motif
Chapter 4: mahjong tiles.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 5 Motif
Chapter 5: a jasmine flower, which was banned in China for some months due to the 2011 Jasmine
Revolution in the Middle East.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 6 Motif
Chapter 6: a caricature of the modern-day pseudo-sage Li Yi, pictured in a gourd, a traditional Taoist symbol related to alchemy.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 7 Motif
Chapter 7: a map of of China’s high-speed train system.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 8 Motif
Chapter 8: a temple door god as reinterpreted by Ai Weiwei’s studio.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 9 Motif
Chapter 9: a temple door god as reinterpreted by Ai Weiwei’s studio.
China Story Yearbook Chapter 10 Motif
Chapter 10: huabiao, the leitmotif of the book.
