Home » Sunday » Now and Then
Celebrating a comic book artist
Print Edition
EDITOR’S note:
During the early 20th century, Shanghai was the largest and most prosperous city in the Far East — and one of the wildest. Though the city wasn’t the largest in the country in terms of space, it was often referred to as “Big Shanghai” by out-of-towners due to its unique traits and sophisticated culture. A fascinating mix of East and West, this column based on Shanghai writer Ma Shanglong’s “Made in Shanghai” looks at what the city is made of, from old lane houses and long gone transportation to typical food and fashion.
AMONG the numerous Metro lines running underground in Shanghai, one particular subway train is named “You Zhi” after a local comic book artist.
The train is decorated with all his paintings.
Scenes of ordinary Shanghai residents’ life over the past 100 years have been displayed on the train through the works of He Youzhi. It takes the clock back in time when the locals cooked with the laohu zhao (literally tiger cooker), had breakfast at the dabing tan (pan-cake vendors), and browsed comic books right at street corners.
Though most middle-aged residents can recall browsing comic books and sharing them among friends, hardly any of them have one today. It was a part of every child’s life — hiding and reading it away from the glare of their parents.
Today, it is all part of a treasured collection.
The origin of the Chinese comic books can be traced way back to the wall paintings of Han Dynasty(206 BC-AD 220). Shanghai, to some extent, is the birthplace of contemporary Chinese comic series on news.
“Dianshizhai Pictorial” was a supplement of Shun Pao, which was one of the most influential newspapers in the Chinese history. It was initiated in 1884 to make news more readable to the ordinary people. The picture-stories were mostly about politics and current events, and attracted lower-class readers. But their purpose in the newspapers were gradually eroded with the advent of photography. Eventually, picture-stories went on to tell entertainment stories.
Chinese picture books were published in huge numbers since 1920s, such as “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” “Outlaws of the Marsh” and “Winter of Three Hairs.”
He Youzhi, the Shanghai artist who spent more than 50 years creating comic books, is known for his works like “Shanxiang Jubian” (Great Changes in the Mountain Village) and “Xiaoerhei Jiehun” (The Peasant Getting Married) which are based on full-length novels.
The comic books are called xiao ren shu in Chinese, which literally means little people’s book. It is not just due to the small figures painted on the papers, but also indicated that its target readers were children. Though parents spent their hard-earned money on educational books for their children, rarely did they buy comic books.
Renting them was the only way children could treasure the comics.
And the street book vendors would stock them up, sensing the huge business potential from renting. The average price for renting was about 0.01 yuan for browsing one book on the spot. Kids could also take them home after paying a deposit but it worked out slightly more expensive as well.
Some children would be so attracted to the characters in the books that they would trace the figures with their semi-transparent paper before returning the books.
Sadly, comic books were never considered “classy” enough to be kept in libraries or even on bookshelves. Most children would be scolded if they were caught reading comic books. If they successfully managed to hide them away from parents, chances are they would have withered due to constant browsing. Yet, the comic books played an important role in shaping the future of many children, drawn as they were from their favorite historical heroes and legends.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
