MANHUA MODERNITY HINESE CUL Manhua Helped Defi Ne China’S Modern Experience
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CRESPI MEDIA STUDIES | ASIAN STUDIES From fashion sketches of Shanghai dandies in the 1920s, to phantasma- goric imagery of war in the 1930s and 1940s, to panoramic pictures of anti- American propaganda rallies in the 1950s, the cartoon-style art known as MODERNITY MANHUA HINESE CUL manhua helped defi ne China’s modern experience. Manhua Modernity C TU RE o ers a richly illustrated and deeply contextualized analysis of these il- A lustrations from the lively pages of popular pictorial magazines that enter- N UA D tained, informed, and mobilized a nation through a half century of political H M T and cultural transformation. N H O E A “An innovative reconceptualization of manhua. John Crespi’s meticulous P study shows the many benefi ts of interpreting Chinese comics and other D I M C illustrations not simply as image genres but rather as part of a larger print E T culture institution. A must-read for anyone interested in modern Chinese O visual culture.” R R I CHRISTOPHER REA, author of The Age of Irreverence: A New History A of Laughter in China L N “A rich media-centered reading of Chinese comics from the mid-1920s T U U I I through the 1950s, Manhua Modernity shifts the emphasis away from I R R T T ideological interpretation and demonstrates that the pictorial turn requires T N N examinations of manhua in its heterogenous, expansive, spontaneous, CHINESE CULTURE AND THE PICTORIAL TURN AND THE PICTORIAL CHINESE CULTURE Y and interactive ways of engaging its audience’s varied experiences of Y fast-changing everyday life.” YINGJIN ZHANG, author of Cinema, Space, and Polylocality in a Globalizing China JOHN A. CRESPI is Associate Professor of Chinese and Asian Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at Colgate Uni- versity. He is the author of Voices in Revolution: Poetry and the Auditory Imagination in Modern China. A PHILIP E. LILIENTHAL BOOK IN ASIAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS WWW.UCPRESS.EDU A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Cover design: Claudia Smelser. Cover illustration: Zhang Guangyu, “The Sun of Socialism Rises in the East,” Manhua yuekan, January 23, 1959. JOHN A. CRESPI Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Philip E. Lilienthal Imprint in Asian Studies, established by a major gift from Sally Lilienthal. Manhua Modernity Manhua Modernity Chinese Culture and the Pictorial Turn John A. Crespi UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS University of California Press Oakland, California © 2020 by John Crespi This work is licensed under a Creative Commons [CC-BY-NC-ND] license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. Suggested citation: Crespi, J. A. Manhua Modernity: Chinese Culture and the Pictorial Turn. Oakland: University of California Press, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.97 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Crespi, John A., author. Title: Manhua modernity : Chinese culture and the pictorial turn / John A. Crespi. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers: lccn 2020016292 (print) | lccn 2020016293 (ebook) | isbn 9780520309104 (paperback) | isbn 9780520973862 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Caricature—China—History—20th century. | Caricatures and cartoons—China—History—20th century. | Caricature—Political aspects—China—20th century. | Communism and culture—China—History—20th century. | Political culture—China—History—20th century. Classification: LCC NC1696.C74 2020 (print) | LCC NC1696 (ebook) | DDC 741.5/6951—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020016292 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020016293 Manufactured in the United States of America 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Botao, Henry, and Emma Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: Manhua, Magazines, Modernity 1 1. Shanghai Sketch and the Illustrated City 25 2. War, Rites of Passage, and Resistance Sketch 58 3. Zhang Guangyu and the Pictorial Imagination of Manhua Journey to the West 81 4. Propaganda and the Pictorial: Manhua yuekan, 1950–1960 103 Epilogue 149 Notes 153 Selected Glossary 171 Works Cited 179 Index 191 Illustrations 1. Front cover of The Ox-Head 2 2. Feng Zikai, “Several People Remembering the Past at the Riverside Pavilion” 5 3. Back page of the August 5, 1925, China Camera News 7 4. Ma Xingchi, “The Real Shanghai” 17 5. “The Real Shanghai” as part of a full-page spread 19 6. Front page of the August 5, 1925, China Camera News 36 7. Back page of the September 16, 1925, China Camera News 37 8. Manhua Society emblem 39 9. “Manifesto of the Manhua Society” 39 10. Color page from Shanghai Sketch 43 11. First installment of Mister Wang 48 12. Mister Wang tries on Western clothes for the first time 51 13. Young Chen and Mister Wang’s daughter 52 14. Advertisement for Hairstick pomade 52 15. Mister Wang and Young Chen in an advertisement for Yantai Beer 53 16. Mister Wang and his family at the beach 53 17. Photograph of young beachgoers at Qingdao 53 18. Miss Shao Qi’an in Hangzhou 54 19. Detail of cover art by Ye Qianyu 55 20. Mister Wang’s run-in with the editorial staff of Shanghai Sketch 56 21. Mister Wang at home 57 22. Mister Wang and Young Chen on the street in Shanghai 57 23. “We’ve Come to Build a War of Resistance Cultural Center” 59 ix x Illustrations 24. “After We Arrived in Wuhan” 64 25. Front cover of Resistance Sketch, no. 1 (January 1, 1938) 69 26. “A Defender of China” 69 27. Masthead for Resistance Sketch 72 28. Masthead for National Salvation Sketch 72 29. First two interior pages of Resistance Sketch, no. 1 (January 1, 1938) 74 30. Zhang Leping, “Pinning a Strip of Paper Reading ‘Nationless Slave’ to His Back” 76 31. Hu Kao, “The Destruction of Shanghai” 76 32. Ye Qianyu, “Fleeing to the Pamir Plateau” 79 33. Zhang Zhengyu and Zhang Guangyu 86 34. An early signature by Zhang Guangyu 88 35. First panel in Manhua Journey to the West 90 36. The King in bed viewing the orb 92 37. The King inspects the mappa mundi 93 38. Gazing into the orb 94 39. The rulers of Moolaland 96 40. The people and buildings of Moolaland 97 41. Disney-style imagery in Manhua Journey to the West 98 42. Monkey visits a modernist beauty salon 99 43. Amnesty ceremony following the surrender of the “Qin Puppet” Demon Empire 100 44. Pig reads the illustrated travel guide to Dream Hedonia 101 45. Zhao Yannian, “If the Enemy Does Not Surrender, Eliminate Him!” 104 46. Han Shangyi, “Shanghai Art Circle’s Program of Action for Resisting America, Aiding Korea, and Protecting Home and Country” 106 47. Zhang Leping, “Panorama to Celebrate the Exhibition Commemorating the First Anniversary of Shanghai’s Liberation” 112 48. Detail of Zhang Leping’s “Panorama” 113 49. Detail of Zhang Leping’s “Panorama” 113 50. Shen Fan, Zhao Wenwei, and Qiu Chengde, “The Shanghai Workers’ Culture Palace” 114 51. Detail of “The Shanghai Workers’ Culture Palace” 114 52. Zhang Leping, “Grand Hotel” 115 53. Detail of an installment of Shen Tongheng’s “How Does One Learn Manhua?” 117 54. “Promote Copying of Art Work, Enhance Alleyway Wall Newspaper Propaganda” 117 55. Su Guang (Li Cunsong), “Holiday Scenes” 123 56. Yue Xiaoying and Xu Fubao, “The People Don’t Need Inferior Quality Products” 124 Illustrations xi 57. Yue Xiaoying and Qiu Chengde, “The People Can Only Be Satisfied by Improved Product Quality” 126 58. “Convenient, Time-Saving Family Toothpaste” 127 59. Liu Xiaoqing, “Personal versus Public Property” 130 60. Liu Xiaoqing, “ ‘Good Intentions’ of Parents” 131 61. Liu Xiaoqing, “ ‘Heroes’ of the Playground” 131 62. Full-page spread “At the Shop Counter” 132 63. Liu Xiaoqing, “The Full Customers Know Not the Impatience of the Hungry” 133 64. Hua Junwu, “Mismatch” 134 65. Ye Qianyu, “Jiangnan Landscapes” 134 66. Wei Qimei, “Helping Wishes Come True” 135 67. Manhua on the theme of theatergoing 136 68. Wan Nian (redrawn by Li Cunsong), “Real-Item Propaganda” 137 69. Ye Miao, “Battered and Broken” 138 70. “Scenes of Inconvenience” 139 71. “Soup,” translated by Huang Jiayin and illustrated by Zhao Yannian 140 72. Caricature of Spike Jones 142 73. An installment of Zhang Leping’s Annals of Father and Son comic strip 145 74. Zhang Guangyu, “The Sun of Socialism Rises in the East” 146 75. Gu Pu, “Two Hearts in Accord” 148 Acknowledgments My journey of coming to understand manhua has been a long and circuitous process helped along by countless organizations and individuals. The first big step was the purchase of a nearly full run of Modern Sketch from China Bookstore (Zhongguo shudian) in 2003 with start-up funds from the Henry R. Luce Foundation. It was not until seven years later that my research on manhua truly began in earnest, thanks to the support of John Dower and the staff at MIT Visualizing Cultures, who made available their fantastic online platform for a unit on Modern Sketch, and the timely intervention of Colgate University’s Dean of Faculty office, which stepped in to help fund the professional scanning of those colorful but fragile and aging magazines.