The ChinaComx project is thrilled to welcome John A. Crespi, Professor of Chinese and Asian Studies at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, and author of Manhua Modernity: Chinese Culture and the Pictorial Turn (University of California Press, 2020)—available open access here!—for a guest lecture titled “Chinese Comics in Context: Scanlating Manhua from the Jazz Age to the Mao Era.

The talk will take place on 17 November in CATS 010.00.01 from 4 p.m.

Abstract of the talk:

Scanlation—the process of scanning foreign comics and translating into another language—originated among fans of Japanese manga. This talk presents the challenges and discoveries of scanlating, cover-to-cover, 20th-century Chinese cartoon and comics publications, from Shanghai Jazz Age illustrated weeklies to wartime propaganda magazines and Mao-period satire monthlies. Much more than simply cutting and pasting, scanlating full issues of period magazines entails a host of aesthetic and cultural issues that offer insights into how cartoons and comics inhabited print media and how to approach these materials in their original sources.

We are looking forward to it!