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Resource type: Book Chapter Language: en: English BibTeX citation key: Goddeeris2013 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: "Tintin", Belgium, China, Ethnicity, Hergé, Remi. Georges, Stereotypes, Vandersteen. Willy Creators: Demel, Goddeeris, Kowner Publisher: Brill (Leiden) Collection: Race and Racism in Modern East Asia. Western and Eastern Constructions |
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Abstract |
This chapter attempts to examine the depiction of China and Chinese in Belgian comics. It will do so chronologically and focuses on racist rather than cultural characterizations of the Chinese. With increasing Japanese interference in China lying in the background, Tintin travels to Shanghai in order to fight an international gang of opium dealers which regularly meets in a local opium den, the Blue Lotus. It is considered a watershed in Hergé’s oeuvre. Hergé’s positive and accurate depiction, however, was not continued. On the contrary, the negative features he had attributed to the Japanese were now given to the Chinese. This Japanization of China follows the geopolitical developments of the time. Chinese do not only play the role of villain, but also have bad character traits. Vandersteen's The Hissing Sampan is undoubtedly the most politically committed comic book about Mao-era China.
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