The Historical Evolution of chinese comic

The word "cartoon" originally comes from Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, which refers to an alias of a bird and has nothing to do with today's cartoon. In 1771, Japan's Suzuki Huanxiang, appreciating the character of "cartoon bird", published "Comic Essay" as a metaphor of "cartoon bird"; Forty years later, the master of Ukiyo-e painting, Ge Shi Bei Zhai, also published "Bei Zhai Comics". But at this time, "comics" are still used as adjectives and are not specifically referred to as cartoons in the form of paintings. In the next hundred years, it was used several times, and finally in 192, the name of "manga" officially appeared in Japan.

On March 17th, 194, Shanghai Alarm Daily published a cartoon in the column of "Current Affairs Cartoon", which was the first time that the name of "cartoon" appeared in China newspapers. Unfortunately, this appearance was only a flash in the pan, and the title of "cartoon" was useless for more than 2 years.

It was not until 1925 that the word "comic" was marked under Feng Zikai's paintings in Literature Weekly, and this appellation was rediscovered. Then, Zikai Comics was published in 1926, and two years later, the weekly Shanghai Comics edited by Shanghai Comics Association was officially published. Since then, the name of the painting "Comics" has finally been unified, and it has been popularized in the society and is still in use today.

From the above, it can be seen that it is not accurate to say that the name of comics began with Feng Zikai, but Zikai Comics and Shanghai Comics have played a historical role in unifying and popularizing comic names, but they cannot be ignored. China's civilization, which has accumulated for 5, years, is constantly developing and updating. At the same time, the ancient cultural content that seems to have been settled for a long time has been continuously excavated into new mineral deposits, bringing people one surprise after another. So is chinese comic. Although from ancient times to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the name of comics has not been determined, but if we look at the artistic characteristics of irony and humor in comics, we can find that there are already artistic treasures with comic characteristics in ancient China.

For example, from Xia Jie, a stone carving portrait in the Han Dynasty, to the Jade Emperor's Meeting Picture by Shi Ke, the first satirical painter who appeared in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, to Ming Xianzong's painting A Harmony Picture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (expressing the idea that harmony is the most precious) and Luo Liangfeng's Ghost Interesting Picture (using ghosts to describe people), etc., both the content and the form have already contained exaggerated images and implications. In addition, in China's ancient traditional ink paintings, such as the lonely and talented state of mind expressed by Zhu Da, a man from Badashan in the late Ming Dynasty, the Eight Eccentrics in Yangzhou in Qing Dynasty dared to despise the ancients and challenge the traditional frankness in their paintings, such as Shi Tao's comparison with "Bitter Melon Monk". These literati freehand paintings reflect the author's cynical attitude towards life, strong personality and inner feelings, and their implied hints and satirical style. Although there is still a certain gap between them and comics in the modern sense, we can really see the clue of chinese comic's development.

The allegorical features of China's ancient "cartoons" which are embodied as "warning" also changed due to the change of dynasties and social system. For example, from the Han Dynasty to the heyday of feudal society in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the imposing sculpture style and the painting language with lines as the modeling backbone have been basically established, and the expression techniques and artistic skills have become increasingly sophisticated. The development of art has affected the cultural policies of the rulers. At this time, the more open cultural atmosphere allows the allegory in painting creation to be sharper and more direct; During the hundreds of years from Wuluanhua to the unification of the Tang Dynasty, and then to the exchange of power between Chinese and foreigners in the Yuan Dynasty, and the feudal rulers did not hesitate to suppress the freedom of expression of culture and art in order to safeguard the political power, the enthusiasm of scholars for politics cooled down, and painting creation turned into a means for literati painters to express their personal temperament and express their thoughts. Therefore, the theme of seclusion and indifference to the world is not uncommon, and the painter emphasizes the understanding and expression of the verve of things and the embodiment of cultural accomplishment in his creation, which makes the irony in Song Yuanming's painting more taboo.

The corruption of political power and the people's anti-imperialist and anti-feudal tide from the late Qing Dynasty further promoted the emergence of "cartoons" (which were called by different names at that time and had not been called cartoons) for the first time.

Ancient cartoons mean

Confucius' Family Tales says: "Confucius looks at the hall of fame, and sees four doors, which are Yao, Shun, Jie and Zhou, and each has its own appearance of good and evil, and the precepts of prosperity and abolition are not clear." People in ancient times have learned to use painting as a weapon to expose evil and promote good. Mr. Deng Tuo believes that "the painting with the theme of the contrast between good and evil can be regarded as one of the manifestations of ancient' cartoons' in China". That is to say, the paintings aimed at satire and criticism began to appear as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, and they were the predecessor and foundation of chinese comic.

China, which has just entered the feudal society, has distinct classes and strict hierarchies. The appearance of Xia Jie, a stone relief in the Han Dynasty, can be regarded as an example of satirizing the present. The cruel image of Xia Jie in the portrait is in sharp contrast with the bullied slaves, which effectively exposes the darkness of ancient slavery and also suggests that contemporary rulers should implement benevolent policies. In addition, exaggerated expressions have also been widely used in pottery figurines and sculptures in the Han Dynasty.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the feudal social system was further consolidated. Paintings in this period often used irony and exhortation to publicize feudal moral standards and norms, which were very similar to the allegorical features of cartoons. For example, in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Gu Kaizhi's "A Picture of Women's History" is an example.

during the five dynasties and ten kingdoms period after the prosperous Tang dynasty, the history of China once again entered the era of separatist regime. In this period of chaos and destruction, there are tyrants in the world, cruel officials in the world, fierce competition among rulers of all sizes, constant wars, and drastic changes in social, economic, cultural and artistic development. Especially at this time, the West Shu appeared (pre-Shu, 97-925 AD; Houshu (934-965 AD) and Southern Tang (937-975 AD) were two cultural centers (there were frequent wars in the Five Dynasties, but there were fewer wars in the South, and the society was stable. In addition, the monarchs in Western Shu and Southern Tang were elegant in literature and proficient in temperament, so the cultural atmosphere was strong. ) to promote realistic painting and landscape painting have a brand-new style. Painters in this period advocated forgetting fame and fortune, getting rid of miscellaneous desires, enriching their own spirit and sublimating their lives. However, Shi Ke and Liang Kai of Houshu expressed their melancholy in a satirical way, which is quite close to the meaning of comics.

The Song and Yuan Dynasties used the ancient times to satirize the present

During the Southern Song Dynasty, the Jin soldiers invaded, ethnic conflicts were fierce, and the people's enthusiasm for resisting Jin was high, while the court in the Southern Song Dynasty was weak and incompetent. At this time, painters can only express their political opinions and patriotism by using paintings and unique ideas to satirize the political situation of the society at that time by the ancients. For example, Li Tang, a painter of the Southern Song Dynasty, traveled south to Lin 'an (present-day Hangzhou) after his death in the Southern Song Dynasty, and created many works, which "were intended to teach rules". For example, his "Taking the Flowers of Wei" shows the scene that Boyi and Shu Qi, after the King of Wu destroyed the business in Historical Records, resolutely refused to be Zhou Chen, preferring to die rather than eat Zhou Su, and avoided picking wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger in shouyangshan. Li Tang painted with this content in order to satirize and attack the dog who bent his knees and defected; The map of Jin Wengong's Restoration expresses his strong desire to restore the country. It can be seen that it is an obvious feature of the satirical paintings in the Southern Song Dynasty to criticize the current politics in a subtle and tortuous way and express the painter's political views by borrowing from the past and satirizing the present.

The irony of paintings in the Yuan Dynasty is more direct than that in the Southern Song Dynasty, which is mainly manifested in the fact that the authors in the Yuan Dynasty dared to face the malpractice of the imperial court and sharply exposed the dark reality of society. For example, Ren Renfa, a famous water conservancy expert in the Yuan Dynasty, wrote "Two Horses", which compared corrupt officials and honest officials with horses of different sizes, and vividly satirized corrupt officials who were "fat and barren".

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the image of officials in the Northern Song Dynasty ("Porcelain Painting Officials' Map") painted on the dual-system porcelain pots of the Liao Dynasty unearthed in Mongolia is vivid and humorous, but full of irony, which makes people astonish and smile, and is full of modern cartoon expression.

Metaphorical satire in Ming and Qing Dynasties

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, feudal rule reached its acme. The spy system of the East-West Factory in the Ming Dynasty and the literary inquisition in the Qing Dynasty forced folk painters not to directly criticize the social reality at that time, nor to boldly expose its shortcomings. As a result, some painters chose a more subtle form of expression, expressing their dissatisfaction with the social reality at that time by metaphor or analogy. For example, Badashan, who was born in the imperial clan of the Ming Dynasty, was extremely dissatisfied with the rule of the Qing Dynasty. He faced the world with a laughing and cursing attitude, so the flowers, birds, wood and stones and landscape figures in his works were abnormal and deformed images to vent his inner resentment. Because of his special identity and unbalanced psychology, coupled with his hatred of the Qing dynasty, he distorted everything in the objective world. Although this is not entirely correct, his satirical painting art is of innovative significance. In his "Peony Peacock", the peacock is showing off in front, but its ugly ass is exposed behind it, which satirizes the sycophantic bureaucrats.

In addition, there is Luo Liangfeng, one of the eight eccentrics in Yangzhou. His "Ghost Fun Map" is also a representative work with allegorical meaning in the Qing Dynasty.

It is also worth mentioning that Ming Xianzong's "A Harmony Map" is also quite comic, but there is no irony in the theme, but it has the flavor of praising comics, which is quite special. Chinese comic's characteristics were conceived in the long and heavy history and the development of painting art, and came to the fore in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. With the appearance of newspapers and periodicals, the intuitive satire of cartoons and the pungent criticism of social regime have become a special "weapon" and developed into an independent painting.

After the Opium War, China entered a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. At the end of 19th century, European lithograph technology was introduced to China. In order to publicize their political opinions, various political factions used lithograph one after another and founded a large number of newspapers and pictorial. During this period, a large number of pictorials and newspapers boldly reflected various contradictions in social life and exposed the corruption and atrocities of the Qing government. Their propaganda methods were not limited to words and slogans, but also used cartoons to express patriotic thoughts of saving the nation, such as Shanghai's Russian News and China Pictorial. Newspapers such as Current Affairs Pictorial in Guangzhou have published many cartoons against the invasion of foreign powers and the feudal rule of the Qing government. This large number of cartoons satirizing current affairs, anti-feudalism and anti-invasion by foreign powers developed rapidly, which prompted the establishment of cartoon paintings around the Revolution of 1911.

If we count from Xie Zuantai's "The Situation Map" in the 24th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (1898) and the anti-imperialist cartoons of the Boxer Rebellion in the 26th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (19), chinese comic's development from independence can be said to run through the whole 2th century. Among them, the establishment of the People's Republic of China in October 1949 was the watershed. The development of comics in the late 19th century and the early 2th century, with the outbreak of the May 4th Patriotic Movement in 1919, and the major historical turning point of the May 3th Movement in 1925 and the cooperation between China and the Republic of China in 1926, ran through a distinct anti-imperialist and anti-feudal battle line, resulting in the "era of essays and cartoons" in the 193s. Contemporary cartoons in the late 2th century (that is, from 195s to 199s after the founding of the People's Republic of China) inherited the previous revolutionary fighting tradition, developed synchronously with the changes of the times and the fate of China society, survived the cartoon disaster during the Cultural Revolution (many cartoons were criticized as "poisonous weeds" and became the "criminal evidence" of critics), and opened up new horizons in social functions, subject matter, form and style.

In a word, chinese comic has closely followed the historical situation and social changes in China, changed from weak to strong, from decline to prosperity in China, and experienced earth-shaking ups and downs in the 1 years of the 2th century, which has formed a unique cartoon tradition and history in China.

late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China

from the end of Qing dynasty to the beginning of Republic of China, the names of "comics" have not been officially used, and most of them are still called "allegorical paintings" and "allegorical paintings", but this does not affect the rapid development and growth of comics. The international and domestic political situation is the fundamental reason for the large-scale development of comics and the final formation of independent paintings. With the wanton invasion of the foreign powers and the collapse of the Qing government, the bourgeois democratic revolution is surging, and the social complexity and chaos in China is beyond measure. The cartoons, which take criticizing the disadvantages of the times as their responsibility, aim at imperialism and feudalism, exposing the ugly face of their greedy encroachment on China. Of course, the introduction and application of modern printing technology has made newspapers and pictorial rise rapidly, and also provided technical conditions for the creation and circulation of comics.

chinese comic in this period was closely connected with current events and real life, and was very sensitive to the social and political situation. While reflecting the rapidly changing social reality, cartoons use their own allegorical function to arouse people's awareness of anti-imperialism and saving the country, and become a powerful weapon for political struggle and ideological struggle in the democratic revolutionary movement. As the "base" of these cartoons, comic newspapers such as Russian News and Current Affairs Pictorial have played an important role.

compared with the more obscure ancient allegorical paintings, cartoons in the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China not only draw on the major social problems in reality, but also are easy to understand, straightforward and sharp in artistic expression, which makes people clear at a glance. Even the metaphors commonly used in cartoons often use common phenomena in life to make metaphors, so that more people can accept and understand them.

In terms of theme, due to the complicated situation of many forces and factions in the period of social unrest, the selection of comic books is very extensive. From exposing the aggression of the great powers to attacking the traitors of the Qing government; From satirizing the hypocrisy and corruption of the officialdom to the feudal superstition against the people, there are excellent works to reflect it. For example, cartoons such as "The Full Picture of the Current Situation" and "Seeing All the Dreams of the World" point to the crux of the problem, expose the ambition of the great powers to carve up China, and satirize the numbness of some people.

May 4th Movement

With the signing of one unequal treaty after another, the oppressed people in China finally stopped swallowing their anger, and the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal sentiment in China became more and more high, which finally led to the May 4th Movement in 1919. While the patriotic movement was in full swing, cartoons in this period closely cooperated with the revolutionary movement and became an unprecedented active art form. At that time, in addition to the emergence of many influential cartoonists (such as Shen Bochen and Dan Duyu), the cartoon leaflets spontaneously drawn by the revolutionary masses were also a special form of cartoons during the May 4th Movement, and they were even more powerful weapons in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movements, vividly expressing the revolutionary movements and people's thoughts and thoughts.

Comic leaflets frequently contain excellent works, such as "Comrades all over the country don't be laughed at by Japanese slaves", which is to call on the people of China to take "boycotting Japanese goods" as a "weapon to save the country" and knock down the oriental people holding the flags of "Secret Agreement" and "Qingdao". The cartoon leaflet "Look at the current tragic situation in Korea" reflects the scene of the Korean people oppressed by the Japanese army being slaughtered and buried alive, and criticizes the bloody crimes of the Japanese army. They vividly show that once China becomes a colony of Japanese imperialism, the people of China will face the same tragic situation as North Korea, so as to inspire the people of the whole country to fight against imperialism and patriotism and mobilize everyone to rise up against the Japanese aggressors.

The book A Record of the Shanghai Strike published in June, 1919 contains a cartoon leaflet, which depicts two fierce armed policemen holding an arrested demonstrator. Although the arrested person is handcuffed and shackled, he is still righteous and upright, shouting slogans with his head held high and never giving in. The inscription in the painting reads: "What do you think he should do? In order to save his country. Isn't his country our country? He is willing to suffer for his country. What should we do? " Passionate words and pictures together, giving people great encouragement and strong incitement.

Although the authors of this batch of comic leaflets are unknown, they also make