A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Chinese Political Cartoons and the Visualization of Politics
(2020)Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
- Abstract
- The main purpose of this was to examine the current Chinese satirical/political cartoons by studying anti-corruption cartoons. Also, to answer the question from an online discussion about “whether there are satirical cartoons (讽刺漫画) in China today”. The study follows the concept of political cartoons as a medium of politics and society. The information and the hidden meaning of the cartoons are explored by applying the conceptual metaphorical theory. A total amount of 61 cartoons from the government organized anti-corruption cartoon competition and 5 semi-structured interviews with Chinese cartoonists are collected in this study. Semiotic analysis of signs in the cartoons shows both universal and local cultural values in anticorruption... (More)
- The main purpose of this was to examine the current Chinese satirical/political cartoons by studying anti-corruption cartoons. Also, to answer the question from an online discussion about “whether there are satirical cartoons (讽刺漫画) in China today”. The study follows the concept of political cartoons as a medium of politics and society. The information and the hidden meaning of the cartoons are explored by applying the conceptual metaphorical theory. A total amount of 61 cartoons from the government organized anti-corruption cartoon competition and 5 semi-structured interviews with Chinese cartoonists are collected in this study. Semiotic analysis of signs in the cartoons shows both universal and local cultural values in anticorruption cartoons. The cartoonists that were interviewed in this research holds both similar and different opinions about Chinese political cartoons, which also provided more insight into this subject. From the analysis of cartoons, it suggests that the cultural background of the cartoons is an important part of understanding them. Further, the satirical feature of political cartoons (mocking the ugliness, judging the injustices, and bring thoughts to the audience) can be found from the study result. Therefore, I argue that there are satirical cartoons in China today. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9031439
- author
- Sha (Sana), Na
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2020
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Political cartoons, Satirical cartoons, China, Cartoonists, Metaphors, Semiotics
- language
- English
- id
- 9031439
- date added to LUP
- 2020-10-28 13:47:19
- date last changed
- 2020-10-28 13:47:19
@misc{9031439, abstract = {{The main purpose of this was to examine the current Chinese satirical/political cartoons by studying anti-corruption cartoons. Also, to answer the question from an online discussion about “whether there are satirical cartoons (讽刺漫画) in China today”. The study follows the concept of political cartoons as a medium of politics and society. The information and the hidden meaning of the cartoons are explored by applying the conceptual metaphorical theory. A total amount of 61 cartoons from the government organized anti-corruption cartoon competition and 5 semi-structured interviews with Chinese cartoonists are collected in this study. Semiotic analysis of signs in the cartoons shows both universal and local cultural values in anticorruption cartoons. The cartoonists that were interviewed in this research holds both similar and different opinions about Chinese political cartoons, which also provided more insight into this subject. From the analysis of cartoons, it suggests that the cultural background of the cartoons is an important part of understanding them. Further, the satirical feature of political cartoons (mocking the ugliness, judging the injustices, and bring thoughts to the audience) can be found from the study result. Therefore, I argue that there are satirical cartoons in China today.}}, author = {{Sha (Sana), Na}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Chinese Political Cartoons and the Visualization of Politics}}, year = {{2020}}, }