Abstract
This chapter analyzes political cartoons relating to late Qing constitutionalism, a pivotal political campaign during the last decade of the empire. Through the reform movement, the Qing court, along with the populace, was attempting to strengthen the nation and “catch up” with foreign powers. The chapter will first look at how late Qing newspapers related political cartoons to the Chinese tradition of political humor and how Chinese cartoonists displayed their wit and humor in their satiric depiction of the constitutional movement, including the constitutional mission and the parliamentary petition campaign. Finally, the government’s reaction toward the cartoons will be examined through the analysis of newspaper reports of the day. This chapter argues that late-Qing political cartoons functioned as a crucial medium for representing Chinese political humor in visual form. These images, by drawing on the absurdity inherent in certain political issues, wield satire as a weapon against the government.
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Notes
- 1.
Besides The Records of the Grand Historian, a number of history books and pre-Qing scholars’ monographs, too, contain comical and satirical writings with political themes. This shows that Chinese political humor was not limited to certain fields and books but was a common practice in the early time.
- 2.
I would like to thank Christopher Rea for his valuable advice on both the content and language in the section.
- 3.
In 1935, Lu Xun 魯迅 (1881–1936) translated “manhua” into a German word Karikatur in his essay “On ‘manhua’ 漫談漫畫”, which is caricature in English.
- 4.
In order to avoid causing confusion by using the term “comic” and “caricature”, the term “satirical picture” has been employed to refer to the name given to a work by the illustrators who produced it; whereas the term “cartoon” is used in referring to the genre of drawing.
- 5.
“Shubao gailiang guangkao 書報改良廣告” (The announcement for changing the page order), People‘s Rights Illustrated, 19 April, 1912.
- 6.
“Benbao tongbao 1 本報通告1” (Announcement 1 by our periodical), Theater Illustrated, 9, November, 1912.
- 7.
“Benbao tuhua zhi tese 本報圖畫之特色” (distinguishing features of images in this periodical), The Truth Record, 1 (1912): n. p.
- 8.
Chinese and Western scholars have noted the significance of images as historical sources. Chinese scholar Chen Pingyuan, in his study on Dianshizhai huabao, proposed reading history through images. He points out that reading texts accompanying images is a Chinese academic tradition which has been long ignored. He regards the illustrations in Chinese pictorials as historical sources, as implied in the term “Painting History” (畫史) given to describe the illustrations by Zheng Zhenduo 鄭振鐸, an important scholar of the early twentieth century. Likewise, Scully and Quartly state that the cartoon has played an important role in the representation of history in the West for centuries. After the publication and circulation of broadsheet newspapers, they became more significant and influenced the whole world. Although modern historians are beginning to acknowledge the importance of cartoons, Scully and Quartly have pointed to continuing shortcomings. The cartoon is often treated as “a kind of decoration”, to break up the text and give an impression of historicity, rather than to add to the historian’s argument”. The most “pernicious usage” is to casually deploy a single cartoon as “supporting evidence, without [engaging in a] reading of the artistic and cultural conventions shaping its content”. In contrast to written documents, “cartoons and other visual source[s] still escape critical analysis”.
- 9.
In Baokan chuanmei yu qingmo lixian sichao, Li thoroughly examines how newspapers helped develop and spread constitutionalist ideas in late Qing China. Although she explores the role of cartoons played in late Qing’s constitutionalism, her discussion of cartoons is still very short in length when compared to her discussion of textual sources.
- 10.
Shishi Baoguan Wushe Quannian huabao, 1908. (no exact date given).
- 11.
A similar cartoon can be found in Shenbao in 1908. A man shoots an arrow at the target inscribed parliament but an officer stops it by clipping the arrow with a pair of pliers.
- 12.
‘The phenomenon of the constitutionalism in the world’, The National Herald, September 28, 1908.
- 13.
‘Parliament,’ Vernacular Picture Daily 白話圖畫日報 (Baihua tuhua ribao), February 27, 1910; ‘Representatives of petitions’ Vernacular Picture Daily, February 20, 1910. ‘Parliament,’ the National Herald, July 1, 1910; ‘Bombastic politicians in power while good men are out.’, the National Herald, October 25, 1910; ‘Fruits fall off when ripe,’ the National Herald 瓜熟蒂落, October 29, 1910, just to name but a few.
- 14.
‘Community of spirit and purpose will accomplish wonders,’ The National Herald, June 18, 1910.
- 15.
‘A hope of the petition.’ The National Herald, July 4, 1910.
- 16.
‘The muddy Bodhisattva.’ The National Herald, May 5, 1908.
- 17.
‘A wish for parliament.’ Shenzhou wuri huabao 神州五日畫報 (Shenzhou Five-Day Pictorial), September 6, 1909.
- 18.
‘Water afar quenches not fire.’ The National Herald, December 20, 1909.
- 19.
‘One step closer.’ The National Herald, November 8, 1910.
- 20.
‘A constitutionalist lantern.’ The National Herald, March 2, 1908.
- 21.
‘Sketch the gourd according to the pattern.’ Renjing huabao, December 15, 1907.
- 22.
A collection of the Qing’ cartoons, Neizheng chunxiu 內政春秋 (Annals of Domestic Affairs), contains a very similar cartoon. Though the cartoon’s publishing details are not given, but it should have appeared around the turn of the twentieth century according to its artistic style and political theme.
- 23.
Shengjing ribao 盛京日報 in Fengtian 奉天, Dagongbao 大公報 in Tianjin 天津, and Shenbao 申報 and Minlibao 民立報 in Shanghai published reports or commentaries on the press ban on Public Opinion Daily.
- 24.
Shenbao, Janunary 14, 1911.
- 25.
Saoxin 騷心, Wuhu yiyuan san 嗚呼議員(三) ( Alas, council members 3), Minlibao, January 11, 1911.
- 26.
According to the report in Shengjing ribao on January 12, 1911, Gonglunshibao defended itself against the accusation of the cartoon and the commentary as malicious libels by noting that it had often been seen in history books that dogs are used as a figure of speech; the police department, therefore, should not punish the newspaper for this. However, the explanation was not accepted but rather enraged the department.
- 27.
Shenbao, January 22, 1911.
- 28.
Shenbao, February 6, 1911.
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Wu, IW. (2018). Illustrating Humor: Political Cartoons on Late Qing Constitutionalism. In: Tam, Kf., Wesoky, S. (eds) Not Just a Laughing Matter. The Humanities in Asia, vol 5. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4960-6_2
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