UK: An exhibition of Chinese comics, Manhua, opens in London looking at 21st century China through work by both mainstream and underground artists

Record ID: 574941

  • Title: UK: An exhibition of Chinese comics, Manhua, opens in London looking at 21st century China through work by both mainstream and underground artists
  • Date: 8th March 2008
  • Summary: (L!1) LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 6, 2008) (REUTERS) PEOPLE LOOKING AT COMICS AT EXHIBITION COMIC ARTWORK AT EXHIBITION VARIOUS OF WORK BY ARTIST BENJAMIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAUL GRAVETT, CURATOR OF "MANHUA CHINA COMICS NOW" EXHIBITION, SAYING: "Many people have heard of Japanese comics - Manga, and Manga is actually a word now in the dictionary. We think in the coming years, with the rising power of China as an economy, Manhua, or Chinese comics will become even more part of our diet, part of our cultural enthusiasm here." PEOPLE LOOKING AT CHINESE COMIC BOOKS ON DISPLAY CHINESE COMIC BOOK LAID OUT VARIOUS OF WORK BY HONG KONG ARTIST TONY WONG, IMAGES FROM A WEEKLY SERIES FOCUSING ON MARTIAL ARTS VARIOUS OF MANHUA ARTIST YISHAN LI GIVING DEMONSTRATION OF DIGITAL DRAWINGS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) MANHUA ARTIST, YISHAN LI SAYING: "It has a, it's the cultural content of it. It's more about, there's a combination of tradition and the modern style. It's more about the way Chinese people tell a story in a different logic." VARIOUS OF YISHAN LI'S COMIC STRIP FOR MAGAZINE "COSMO GIRL" VARIOUS OF COMIC STRIPS ON DISPLAY PEOPLE LOOKING AT EXHIBIT VARIOUS OF WORK BY MANHUA ARTIST COCO WANG (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANHUA ARTIST, COCO WANG SAYING: "I was in touch with lots of underground artists and I brought their work over to here and for those underground artists they were really into their own stories, it's not so mainstream, it's very personal experience and has very strong feelings, like involves sex and violence and you know, very free thinking thing. So for those comics, it's very difficult to get published in China, so for those artists, it's quite difficult for them to survive." VARIOUS OF WORK BY HONG KONG ARTIST, MR CLEMENT VARIOUS OF WOMAN LOOKING AT EXHIBITION
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA3B7OIQA66EBMQCJBPRTXZDSCR
  • Story Text: East met the West on Thursday (March 6) in London at the opening of an exhibition looking at 21st century China through the art and stories in contemporary Chinese comic books.
    Some 200 pieces of artwork and printed pieces were on show at the capital's College of Communications, from famous mass-market hits to smaller alternative series.
    The exhibition entitled "Manhua - Chinese Comics Now" is the first display of contemporary works in the UK, principally from mainland China but also from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
    Manhua, or modern Chinese comics, are largely influenced by manga from Japan and comics from the West, but are also drawing increasingly on the artists' own cultural heritage.
    2008 marks a special year for Anglo-Chinese relations as Beijing prepares for the Olympics this summer and then the handover to London for 2012. Paul Gravett, who curated the exhibition, said the works bridge cultures and make the history, legends, fantasies and even everyday lives of Chinese people today accessible to the UK public.
    Gravett, who is also director of Comica, London's international comics festival, said Manhua has a big future,
    "We think in the coming years, with the rising power of China as an economy, Manhua, or chinese comics will become even more part of our diet, part of our cultural enthusiasm here," he said.
    Artist Yishan Li has lived in the UK for three years since moving from Beijing. Her work reflects more of the mainstream contemporary Manhua and has been published in China, America and the UK. She also contributes a monthly comic strip to U.S. teen magazine, "CosmoGirl."
    Li said compared to manga, Manhua is more of a combination of tradition and modernity,
    "It's more about the way Chinese people tell a story in a different logic," she said before giving a demonstration of digital drawing at Thursday's opening.
    The exhibition also looks at Manhua's roots in China's picture story history, especially the illustrated traditions of the 1920s, usually in palm-size booklets of classical tales and ideological messages.
    Manhua was used for propaganda purposes during China's Cultural Revolution but is now being adopted increasingly by underground artists to reflect their feelings about China as it modernises.
    A large part of the exhibition focuses on the idea of China's identity crisis as it moves forward and at the same time tries to maintain its traditions.
    Artist Coco Wang, from mainland China, has lived in the UK for nearly ten years but in 2005 went to Beijing for two years to set up a studio there.
    At the exhibition on Thursday she showed a piece that worked as a diary of her early days living in England and the challenges she faced.
    Wang said that tight control over freedom of speech in China has made it impossible for underground artists to make a living from their work there,
    "I was in touch with lots of underground artists," said Wang, "They were really into their own stories, it's not so mainstream, it's very personal experience and has very strong feelings, like involves sex and violence and you know, very free thinking thing. So for those comics, it's very difficult to get published in China, so for those artists, it's quite difficult for them to survive."
    The "Manhua" exhibition is a part of the China Now festival which is the UK's largest festival of Chinese culture. The exhibition runs until April 11.
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