Drawn to the news

China's population of Web users hit 500 million late last year, a significant proportion of whom routinely dabble as amateur commentators on news and current affairs. Whether bogged down in vitriol about the state of the traffic or food safety or light-hearted banter about the celebrity mishap of the day, a new generation has emerged with their fingers firmly on the keyboard, ready to lampoon any and all topics.

At times, it seems all too easy online. Chinese news leans towards the comical at the best of times. Views spouted by Sima Nan, an anti-US commentator renowned for his criticism of pseudoscience and the supernatural, provides rich fodder to Web commentators.

There's also traditional Chinese medicine companies that describe bear bile-extraction as "turning on a tap," and the face-off between popular blogger Han Han and the man known as "science cop" Fang Zhouzi. However, silently observing from the sidelines is Xiao Mao, a blogging cartoonist who puts a creative, humorous twist on stories dominating China's news cycle.

Man behind the mystery

High-brow news magazines may make their aloof, politically-correct illustrations around the editorial pages, but online it's a different ball game. Xiao, who made his name last year for his occasional lewd jokes and material dripping in tolerable toilet humor, has won a thousands-strong legion of followers, eager to see his take on the latest current affairs.

"Current affairs cartoons have been around for more than a century. Timeliness brings a lot of life to cartoons. If you're not fast, your cartoon loses value. The rise of the Internet means a lot of cartoonists who had no chance before to publish their work now have a way to express themselves," Xiao told the Global Times via e-mail.

"It's much more convenient to share your work with an audience. Thanks to the popularity of the Internet, more and more people have become devoted to drawing current affairs cartoons."

The Global Times contacted Xiao, hoping to go behind the scenes with his small cast of elaborately robed, square-headed cartoon characters and find out what makes the cartoonist tick. However, as Australian humorist David Thorne claims in his 2011 book The Internet Is a Playground, part of the appeal of posting online is the mystery. Preferring to communicate with pictures rather than words, it was clear from the outset that Xiao wasn't willing to give us an all-access pass into his secret cartoon world.

"Events and news are like a tangled ball of woolen yarn; they intertwine together and make people confused and worried," Xiao said. "I just pull at one piece of the yarn and try to show it in a pleasant, interesting way. I think I am doing something important and meaningful."