Project Overview
WeChat Cartoonist Kuang Biao
Department(s)
Asian Studies
East Asian Languages and Literatures
Abstract
This project examines the recent and ongoing WeChat posts of the China-based cartoonist Kuang Biao. Kuang is a particularly interesting artist for several reasons. First, he is a direct inheritor of the 20th Century Chinese independent cartooning tradition. His mentor, the fellow Cantonese Liao Bingxiong, began publishing cartoons in the 1930s and remained active into the 1990s. Second, thanks to his oblique, subtly allusive style, Kuang manages to independently publish cartoons of political commentary even now under the strict censorship (and self-censorship) regime of Xi Jinping. Third, Kuang's output is prodigious; he manages to publish up to six new cartoons on his WeChat official account nearly every week, often presenting them in video format with music and voiceover. When not posting cartoons, he shares his views through videos of himself or by sharing selected videos of others, all of which in some way reflect his independent stance vis-a-vis official discourse. The student assistant for this project would be a collaborator in reviewing, cataloguing, and analyzing WeChat posts by Kuang Biao over the past several years to help understand how Kuang has carried China's independent cartooning tradition into the current Internet age.
Student Qualifications
The ideal applicant for this position is a native Chinese speaker with a strong interest in media studies and/or contemporary Chinese politics who is able to work carefully and consistently in the creation and management of spreadsheet data.
Number of Student Researchers
1 student
Project Length
8 weeks
Applications open on 10/03/2023 and close on 02/28/2024