Kunst und politische Artikulation: Die chinesische Karikatur 1934-1937 (review)

Not much has been written on the art of cartoons and caricature in China, and thus Heike Frick's book—an excellent study of cartoons that appeared in specialized cartoon magazines in Shanghai between 1934 and 1937—is a welcome addition to this undeservedly small subfield of Chinese studies. As Frick herself points out, cartoons are indeed an invaluable source for the study of political, social, intellectual, and artistic trends and discursive formations especially during periods of social upheaval and change. They reflect not just the points of view of the artists who made them but also, inevitably, through the use of stereotyped images, the commonly held beliefs and attitudes of their times (p. 16). They are thus ideal sources for the study of the mentalité of a people in a given period. It is for this reason that cartoons and caricatures ought to be taken much more seriously by historians (p. 15).

In addition to the introduction (part 1) and the conclusion (part 4), Frick's study consists of two main parts: part 2, "Socio-cultural and Art-historical Aspects of Cartoons in China" (pp. 32-66), and part 3, "Everyday Conflicts of the 1930s in Contemporary Cartoons" (pp. 67-211). In part 2, Frick deals briefly and comparatively with the development of cartoons and caricature in both China and the West and discusses the production and readership of cartoons in China of the 1930s. In part 3, she analyzes some fifty cartoons, which she divides into four major categories: (1) the political elite, (2) particular social types, (3) social criticism, and (4) foreigners.

Her analyses of these cartoons, which take up the bulk of the book (part 3 , pp. 67-211), offer valuable insights for anyone studying this period. These cartoons present yet another discursive angle—next to the better-studied media such as literature, film, or the press—on Chinese society in this particular time of change. It is one of the strengths of her book that Frick is ready to point especially to some of the parallels with literary discourse, as she does in the cases of the "superfluous" and ineffective—and thus typical—May Fourth intellectual, the question of individualism, or the figure of the policeman and the rickshaw puller, respectively. Frick is able to show that the arguments brought up in cartoons are reflections of rather general topics of discussion. Thus, she illuminates the function of caricature within the discursive field of the time, as she has promised in the introduction (p. 18).

Of course, one could always hope for more contextualizations. For example, the depictions of women in these cartoons—prostitutes in particular—could have been compared fruitfully to similar images presented in some of the silent films produced in Shanghai during the same period.¹ In some cases, it might also have been useful to provide a historical dimension. With regard to prostitutes, the parallels with earlier portrayals in the print media (in editorials, news reports, poetry, and illustrations) are striking: here and there prostitutes appear as women who are both admired and despised—and subdued—by men. As such, they become the symbol for a China that was subordinated to the foreign powers from at least the late Qing.² In view of these historical precedents, what is the particular quality of the discourse on prostitution in the cartoons of the 1930s? Similarly, how do the antiforeign cartoons of the 1930s compare with some of the earlier anti-Western cartoons published in newspapers and magazines since the late Qing? Many of the themes alluded to by Frick in her approach to the topic appear in these earlier publications in rather similar form.³ How do the images change and how do they remain the same? What does this tell us about the particular significance of cartoons as...