Manhua
Manhua are Chinese-language comics produced in Greater China. Chinese comics and narrated illustrations have existed in China throughout its history.
They are usually graphic and can be written for a myriad of genres, including romance, fantasy, historical, thrillers, paranormal and horror. The narratives are varied but often include tropes and plots common to Asian culture and settings.
The first major manhua magazine, Shanghai Sketch, first published in 1928. During the early 20th century, political manhua were printed as propaganda during times of political upheaval. At the start of the 21st century, Chinese cartoonists began to publish manhua through social media and microblogging websites.
Etymology
The word manhua was originally an 18th-century term used in Chinese literati painting. It became popular in Japan as manga in the late 19th century. Feng Zikai reintroduced the word to Chinese, in the modern sense, with his 1925 series of political cartoons entitled Zikai Manhua in the Wenxue Zhoubao. While terms other than manhua had existed before, this particular publication took precedence over the many other descriptions for cartoon art that were used previously and manhua came to be associated with all Chinese comic materials.The Chinese characters for manhua are identical to those used for the Japanese manga and Korean manhwa. Someone who draws or writes manhua is referred to as a manhuajia.
History
The oldest surviving examples of Chinese drawings are stone reliefs from the 11th century BC and pottery from 5000 to 3000 BC. Many reliefs, such as those from the Wu Family Shrines of the Han dynasty, detail historical events using sequential storytelling. Other examples include symbolic brush drawings from the Ming Dynasty, a satirical drawing titled "Peacocks" by the early Qing Dynasty artist Zhu Da, and a work called "Ghosts' Farce Pictures" from around 1771 by Luo Liang-feng. Chinese manhua was born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, roughly during the years 1867 to 1927.The introduction of lithographic printing methods derived from the West was a critical step in expanding the art in the early 20th century. Beginning in the 1870s, satirical drawings appeared in newspapers and periodicals. By the 1920s palm-sized picture books like Lianhuanhua were popular in Shanghai. They are considered the predecessor of modern-day manhua.
One of the first magazines of satirical cartoons came from the United Kingdom entitled The China Punch. The first piece drawn by a person of Chinese nationality was The Situation in the Far East from Tse Tsan-tai in 1899, printed in Japan. Sun Yat-Sen established the Republic of China in 1911 using Hong Kong's manhua to circulate anti-Qing propaganda. Some of the manhua that mirrored the early struggles of the transitional political and war periods were The True Record and Renjian Pictorial.
Up until the establishment of the Shanghai Sketch Society in 1927, all prior works were Lianhuanhua or loose collections of materials. The first successful manhua magazine, Shanghai Sketch appeared in 1928. Between 1934 and 1937 about 17 manhua magazines were published in Shanghai. This format would once again be put to propaganda use with the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. By the time the Japanese occupied Hong Kong in 1941, all manhua activities had stopped. With the surrender of the Japanese in 1945, political mayhem between Chinese Nationalists and Communists took place. One of the critical manhua, This Is a Cartoon Era by Renjian Huahui made note of the political backdrop at the time.
One of the most popular and enduring comics of this period was Zhang Leping's Sanmao, first published in 1935.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, begun in 1937, many Chinese cartoonists, including Ye Qianyu, fled Shanghai and other major cities and waged "cartoon guerilla warfare" against the Japanese invaders by mounting roving cartoon exhibitions and publishing cartoon magazines in inland cities like Hankou.
file:Old Master Q of Hong Kong Comic Avenue of Comic Star.jpg|thumb|140px|Old Master Q, one of the earliest popular manhua characters from Hong Kong.
The rise of Chinese immigration turned Hong Kong into the main manhua-ready market, especially with the baby boom generation of children. The most influential manhua magazine for adults was the 1956 Cartoons World, which fueled the best-selling Uncle Choi. The availability of Japanese and Taiwanese comics challenged the local industry, selling at a pirated bargain price of 10 cents. Manhua-like Old Master Q were needed to revitalize the local industry.
The arrival of television in the 1970s was a changing point. Bruce Lee's films dominated the era and his popularity launched a new wave of Kung Fu manhua. The explicit violence helped sell comic books, and the Government of Hong Kong intervened with the Indecent Publication Law in 1975. Little Rascals was one of the pieces which absorbed all the social changes.
The materials would also bloom in the 90s with work like McMug and three-part stories like "Teddy Boy", "Portland Street" and "Red Light District".
Since the 1950s, Hong Kong's manhua market has been separate from that of mainland China.
Si loin et si proche, by Chinese writer and illustrator Xiao Bai, won the Gold Award at the 4th International Manga Award in 2011. Several other manhua have also won the Silver and Bronze Awards at the International Manga Award.
In the second half of the 2000s and early 2010s, various Chinese cartoonists began using social media to spread satirical strips and cartoons online. Print publishing, being strictly controlled in China, is slowly being traded in for microblogging websites such as Sina Weibo and Douban, where manhua can reach a wide audience while subject to less editorial control.
Despite China being a major consumer of comics for decades, the medium has never been taken as "serious works of art". R. Martin of The Comics Journal describes the Chinese outlook on comics as "pulpy imitations of films". Furthermore, China strictly controls the publishing of comics, and as a result, cartoonists faced difficulty reaching a large audience. Many cartoonists in the late 2000s began self-publishing their work on social media instead of attempting to issue paper editions. Websites such as Douban and Sina Weibo are popular venues for web manhua and webcomics.
The Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival celebrated the coming of a "webcomics era" in 2015. With increased smartphone usage with a younger generation, web manhua, webcomics, and webtoons are expected to become more popular. With an increasing prevalence of Chinese-language online comic platforms, young artists have more opportunities to publish their work and gain a reputation. In the second half of the 2010s, South Korean webtoons and webtoon platforms have become increasingly popular in China.
In 2016, two manhua have been adapted into anime television series: Yi Ren Zhi Xia and Soul Buster. Another series, Bloodivores, based on a web manhua, will start airing on October 1, 2016. Another series, The Silver Guardian, premiered in the Spring 2017 season. Two years later, Ultramarine Magmell, another Chinese manhua, got an anime in 2019.
Taiwanese manhua
Taiwanese manhua has its origins during the Japanese colonial period, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Prior to this, Taiwan produced publications combining text and images, such as illustrated novels. In the early 20th century, influenced by Japan, the first comic-style magazines appeared in Taiwan, including Taiwan Puck, Tetsuwan Puck, and Takasago Puck, inspired by Japanese publications.During the Japanese occupation, interest in comics grew, and publications began to include colored cartoons and satirical works. In 1921, the Taiwan Daily News began publishing a comic section, which became an important source of content for the local population.
After World War II, the influx of Chinese Lianhuanhua and American comics like Blondie and Dennis the Menace, along with the piracy of Japanese manga, helped solidify the popularity of comics in Taiwan. In the following decades, especially after the island’s democratization in the 1990s, manhua gained recognition as a legitimate form of artistic and cultural expression.
Categories
Before the official terminology was established, the art form was known by several names.| English | Pinyin | Chinese |
| Allegorical Pictures | Rúyì Huà | 如意畫 / 如意画 |
| Satirical Pictures | Fĕngcì Huà | 諷刺畫 / 讽刺画 |
| Political Pictures | Zhèngzhì Huà | 政治畫 / 政治画 |
| Current Pictures | Shíshì Huà | 時事畫 / 时事画 |
| Reporting Pictures | Bàodǎo Huà | 報導畫 / 报导画 |
| Recording Pictures | Jìlù Huà | 紀錄畫 / 纪录画 |
| Amusement Pictures | Huáji Huà | 滑稽畫 / 滑稽画 |
| Comedy Pictures | Xiào Huà | 笑畫 / 笑画 |
Today's manhua are simply distinguished by four categories.
| English |
| Satirical and political manhua |
| Comical manhua |
| Action manhua |
| Children's manhua |
Characteristics
Modern Chinese-style manhua characteristics is credited to the breakthrough art work of the 1982 Chinese Hero. Unlike manga, it had more realistic drawings with details resembling real people. Most manhua also comes in full color with some panels rendered entirely in painting for the single issue format.Most manhua work from the 1800s to the 1930s contained characters that appeared serious. The cultural openness in Hong Kong brought the translation of American Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Pinocchio in the 1950s, demonstrating western influence in local work like Little Angeli in 1954. Both the influx of translated Japanese manga of the 1960s and televised anime in Hong Kong also made a significant impression.