The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era

AbstractThis paper focuses on Li Zicheng, a serial long comic story in China’s 1980s. The work was released between the post-Mao and pre-89 eras in the history of the Socialist China, a period known for the increasing liberalization of its society. Meanwhile, it was derived from a renowned socialist...

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Main Authors: Yuxiang Yang, Simon Soon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2023-12-01
Series:Cogent Arts & Humanities
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2023.2203071
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author Yuxiang Yang
Simon Soon
author_facet Yuxiang Yang
Simon Soon
author_sort Yuxiang Yang
collection DOAJ
description AbstractThis paper focuses on Li Zicheng, a serial long comic story in China’s 1980s. The work was released between the post-Mao and pre-89 eras in the history of the Socialist China, a period known for the increasing liberalization of its society. Meanwhile, it was derived from a renowned socialist literary work of the 1960s, which uses the theme of ancient peasant wars as a metaphor for modern communist revolution and catering to the prevailing ideology of the time. Focusing on visuality, this study concludes through visual grammar analysis that the revolutionary narrative is implicitly diminished in the comics’ narrative space. This finding reveals a microcosm of the way in which literary artists in the early years of reform and opening up received and adapted the revolutionary cultural heritage of the Mao era. With this conclusion the paper attempts to offer an innovative way of interpreting the inheritance and transformation of Chinese socialist culture in the post-revolutionary transition era.
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spelling doaj.art-6568758216024f86ad769ebd3a4c4db12023-12-03T02:14:22ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Arts & Humanities2331-19832023-12-0110110.1080/23311983.2023.2203071The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary eraYuxiang Yang0Simon Soon1Faculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFaculty of Creative Arts, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaAbstractThis paper focuses on Li Zicheng, a serial long comic story in China’s 1980s. The work was released between the post-Mao and pre-89 eras in the history of the Socialist China, a period known for the increasing liberalization of its society. Meanwhile, it was derived from a renowned socialist literary work of the 1960s, which uses the theme of ancient peasant wars as a metaphor for modern communist revolution and catering to the prevailing ideology of the time. Focusing on visuality, this study concludes through visual grammar analysis that the revolutionary narrative is implicitly diminished in the comics’ narrative space. This finding reveals a microcosm of the way in which literary artists in the early years of reform and opening up received and adapted the revolutionary cultural heritage of the Mao era. With this conclusion the paper attempts to offer an innovative way of interpreting the inheritance and transformation of Chinese socialist culture in the post-revolutionary transition era.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2023.2203071Li ZichengLianhuanhuarevolutionary narrativepeasant uprisingtraditional literaturevisual adaptation
spellingShingle Yuxiang Yang
Simon Soon
The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era
Cogent Arts & Humanities
Li Zicheng
Lianhuanhua
revolutionary narrative
peasant uprising
traditional literature
visual adaptation
title The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era
title_full The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era
title_fullStr The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era
title_full_unstemmed The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era
title_short The remaking of revolutionary literature: a comic series on peasant uprising in the post-revolutionary era
title_sort remaking of revolutionary literature a comic series on peasant uprising in the post revolutionary era
topic Li Zicheng
Lianhuanhua
revolutionary narrative
peasant uprising
traditional literature
visual adaptation
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311983.2023.2203071
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