Changing times have traditional political cartoons on the wane in China(2)

A cartoon named Fury Wave by Kuang Biao Photo: Courtesy of Kuang Biao

"The essence of a political cartoon is satire. Politicians in China are used to praises and applause. It's natural that they have no appetite for thorny satire, especially in publications they view as their publicity tools," Gouben, a professional cartoonist who contributes to newspapers including Southern Weekend, Southern Metropolis Daily and The Beijing News, told the Global Times.

"Many local newspaper publishers do not understand the humor in a cartoon and think of them as liabilities that may offend officials," Xiao said.

Cartoonists have to also face stringent regulations by the media on their work. "For example, some newspapers had a requirement that officials involved in news scandals should not be caricatured. They can't even be painted as fatter than they really are," Gouben said.

Kuang Biao, former editor of the cartoon page at Southern Metropolis Daily in 2008, said he had to prepare two to three back-up works each week in case a cartoon had to be revised or pulled completely.

"In less than a year, authorities asked the cartoon page to shut down, and I was ordered not to launch a new one," Kuang told the Global Times. He left Southern Metropolis Daily in 2013 and now works as the art director at a newspaper in Hong Kong.

Chinese cartoonists have to adopt oblique techniques when they want to express their criticism. Allusions and metaphors abound. "Because of this, our works are sometimes more witty and classy than our Western counterparts, and are more thought-provoking," Kuang said.

Last year, active online cartoonist Wang Liming, known on China's social media Weibo as Pervert Hot Pepper, said he was forced to move to Japan after he was attacked by some newspapers for being a "traitor" and had all his social media accounts forcibly deleted. Wang, however, argues that his outspoken cartoons were the real reason why he was under attack.

"It's not difficult to see why he is so hated. His works are too straightforward - like poking a man's heart with a knife. Besides, his views are too subjective and sometimes radical," Kuang said.

In the meantime, Chinese authorities have allowed cartoon depictions of China's leadership to appear in the media for the first time since the 1980s, as part of a broader Party publicity push. Caricatures of former and current central government leaders such as Jiang Zemin and Xi Jinping, painted by artist Zhu Zizun, for example, were exhibited during a cartoon festival last year in Hangzhou, and cartoon drawings of Peng Liyuan, China's first lady, went viral online.

Finding new life online

While most people working in media in China are in their 20s or 30s, most of the cartoonists who are still active in the media are men in their 40s and 50s. "Without a certain amount of social and life experiences, it's hard for artists to draw powerful and trenchant political cartoons," Kuang said.

But a new generation of political cartoonists are already emerging on social media, with modern styles that cater to young people's tastes and faster drawing techniques that allow them to respond more quickly to current events. "I'm not worried about the future of China's political cartoons. Painters like Gouben, Dashixiong and others are not just active in newspaper but more importantly, on social media. They are taking over our role," Kuang said.

Cartoonists believe that social media will bring a revival to China's political cartoons. In fact, Weibo has already witnessed the births of creative new forms of news cartoons. One of them is "character news" created by Wang Zuozhongyou, who tells news stories by deconstructing Chinese characters and numbers, replacing radicals with paintings.

One of his famous works depicts the number 500 with the two 0's resembling a pair of handcuffs. The cartoon was an indirect reference to a 2013 ruling that bloggers can be sent to jail for online posts containing false information which are reposted more than 500 times.

Wang Zuozhongyou has kept his real name and identity a secret, revealing only that he works in the media. Zuozhongyou is Wang's pseudonym, which literally means "left middle right," expressing his view that his work has no political inclinations. "I choose to draw cartoons on news that are already widespread on the social media. Most of the time, I try to be objective and only describe the facts in my cartoons," he told the Global Times.

In reality, however, Wang's choice of subject, including the arrest of lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and the blocking of Gmail in China, reveals his liberal inclination.

Many of his works were censored on Weibo, and his public account on WeChat, Tencent's popular messaging app, where he sends latest works to subscribers, was shut down at the beginning of 2014. Even so, cartoonists are still optimistic about the future. "The space for art on the Internet is much bigger, and we now have more channels to publish our works," Xiao said. "In this [digital] age, as long as cartoonists have a free mind and an independent soul, they can find outlets to pour their energy into," said Kuang.