On September 15, 2025, at 18:00, ChinaComx Phd Candidate Song Jiu will deliver a speech titled “Beyond Frames of Painting: Research Pathways into Lianhuanhua and Visual Narratives from a Global Perspective” (超越画格——全球视野下连环画与视觉叙事的研究路径) at the China Academy of Art, Nanshan Campus, South Garden Conference Room. The lecture will be hosted by Prof. Sheng Tianye, Dean of the School of Chinese Painting, China Academy of Art.

For the WeChat post in Chinese, see here, and the speech abstracts (in English and Chinese) are as follows:

Lianhuanhua, once one of the most influential forms of mass visual culture in China, has gradually entered the research horizon of the international academic community. This speech takes lianhuanhua as the entry point to introduce the main topics and theoretical frameworks currently emphasized by scholars worldwide. From cultural memory and mediatized nostalgia to fan culture and cross-national comparison, lianhuanhua is not only an object of historical study but also an important window for understanding contemporary visual narratives and cultural communication. The lecture will also draw on several international scholarly works to discuss how researchers use interdisciplinary methods, such as archival study, fieldwork, interviews, and digital ethnography, to approach and interpret lianhuanhua. The speaker shares her own research ideas and methods, demonstrating how lianhuanhua studies connect with broader visual cultural issues. The aim is to use this unique medium to explore, together with students and colleagues, the multiple possibilities of contemporary visual culture research and its place in the global academic context.

连环画曾经是中国最具影响力的大众视觉文化形式之一，它也逐渐进入国际学界的研究视野。本次讲座将以连环画为切入点，介绍当前全球学者在该领域关注的主要议题与理论框架。从文化记忆、媒介化怀旧，到粉丝文化与跨国比较，连环画不仅是历史研究的对象，也成为理解当代视觉叙事与文化传播的重要窗口。讲座还将结合若干国际学术著作，讨论学者们如何通过跨学科方法——包括档案研究、田野调查、访谈与数字民族志——来认识和阐释连环画。主讲人也将分享自身研究的思路与方法，展示连环画研究如何与更广泛的视觉文化议题发生关联。讲座的目标是通过连环画这一独特媒介，与师生共同探讨当下视觉文化研究的多种可能性，以及它在全球学术语境中的位置。