Culture
17:05, 11-May-2018
Chinese comic strips celebrated at exhibition in Brussels
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The history of Chinese comic strips is being outlined at the internationally famous Belgian Comic Strip museum in Brussels.
The Belgian capital is renowned for its influence in the world of comic strips with the artist Herge creating Tin Tin there. The Smurfs and many others were also created in Belgium.
Tintin is the fictional hero of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian artist Herge.
Tintin is the fictional hero of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian artist Herge.
But at the exhibition titled "A panorama of Chinese comic strips," the star of the show is San Mao.
The artist Zhang Leping drew the orphan character originally in 1935, but his image is still being used to entertain to this day.
The exhibition in Belgium was curated by JC de la Royere who says in the period around the Communist Revolution, "China didn't yet have television, there wasn't much cinema either because there wasn't electricity everywhere. So the main media was little books of comic strips."
Those books are called "Lianhuanhua," are 12.5cm x 10cm in size and would be carried around in people's pockets.
Chinese “Lianhuanhua” and Smurfs displayed at Belgian Comic Strip museum.
Chinese “Lianhuanhua” and Smurfs displayed at Belgian Comic Strip museum.
While the Brussels show explains the artistic development of comic strips in China in the 20th century, it also looks at how important Chinese traditions and design have been in creating the genre around the world.
The first ever illustrated books are known to have been made in China as far back as the year 868 and even before then, the nature of Chinese writing – being a progressive series of images – is indeed, the essential principle of the comic strip.
The Brussels exhibition looks at the reflections in Chinese comic strips of the legacy of tradition, revolutionary tales and at Chinese humor – it also displays the comic strips from China's growing contemporary market.
Nowadays Chinese artists, like many others around the world, are heavily influenced by comic strip TV shows from Japan and from Europe.
The show is open to visitors until September 2018.