Abstract
Chinese cartoon magazines flourished in the mid-1930s, with well over a dozen titles including the term manhua 漫畫, "cartoon". Such magazines were produced for commercial and ideological reasons and their contents ranged widely between casual life and great events.
The ever-changing situation inside and outside of China, the unpredictable direction of domestic and international politics as well as the growing sense of a nearing global catastrophe marked many cartoons as they reflected some aspects of their authors' and readers' opinions. The 1930s were indeed a turbulent decade for China: Japanese invasion caused separation of Manchuria in 1931/1932; one-party (Guomindang) government's attempts to counterbalance Communism took country on the brink of a civil war and, besides militarizing society and politics, caused heavy financial and administrative repercussions.
At the same time, Chinese public was well aware of the events in other parts of the world, with Abyssinia crisis and Spanish Civil War in the focus of the attention of Chinese mass media. Cartoon magazines (e.g.
Shidai Manhua 時 代漫畫, Dongfang Manhua 東方漫畫, Duli Manhua 獨立漫畫, Manhua he Shenghuo 漫畫和生活, Manhuajie 漫画界, Manhua Manhua 漫畫漫話, Manhua Shijie 漫畫世界, Wanxiang 萬象, Zhongguo Manhua 中國漫畫, etc.) produced a vivid, imaginative response to the current affairs, adding colour and shape to the formal textual newsprint. Not surprisingly, the central issue in China's international standing for cartoonists was Japanese encroachment; while the pain of Manchuria's separation had tailed off somewhat by 1933/1934, Japan's advances in Northern China were regarded with renewed despair and disgust.
Simultaneous stories of emerging conflicts in the West created the idea of relating these parallel trends. Therefore, Japan's policy in China was incorporated into the same visual narrative as Mussolini's actions towards Abyssinia, as well as the inadequacy of the League of Nations' measures against such actions, the spread of totalitarian ideologies and the world powers' unrestrained desire to gain profit.
However, some contradictions come into view: the threat from Japan inspired a call to defend the motherland, while the militaristic trends abroad caused anxiety and fear. Chinese cartoons reflect a rending paradox between the perception of China's own helplessness against the horrors of foreign invasion and the demand for disarmament on the global scale.
Cartoons depicting Sino-Japanese clash implied criticism of government's non-resistance and society's inaction, while images of oppressed peoples abroad demonstrated a sense of pity rather than a cry for revenge. That is an understandable incongruity, of course, but it brought several Chinese cartoonists to the conclusion that peace on Earth was impossible while humankind inhabited the planet.
Such apocalyptic vision was further enhanced by the ever more frequent application of such clichés as dead or mutilated bodies (both male and female), skeletons, skulls and other macabre details. Analyzing the cartoons also shows the dynamics of allocating the role of "the main villain" in the mid-1930s.
For example, several cartoons from 1935 portrayed Mussolini as a far more dangerous actor than Hitler, while Hitler at first (in 1934) appeared to be no more than a puppet or a "straw dog" being manipulated by London or, largely, capitalists. Generally, the cartoons contained multiple warnings against the coming global war through various metaphors, such as oceans of blood and bombs destroying all.
Yet, the same cartoonists aimed to rouse militant spirit in their compatriots in order to resist the Japanese threat. The cartoons show the growing apprehension and mistrust to all foreign powers in Chinese society.
These visual sources show China alone, helpless against the terror of war, with this terror spreading onto the whole planet.