Manifestations of Blackness in China Pop Culture

February 11, 2021 by Jason Li

This wonderful three-part talk hosted by Poster House features:

Dr. Keisha A. Brown on the erasure of Blackness in recent advertising. For example, when an ad that John Boyega conceived and starred in for British brand Jo Malone was recreated, without permission, by the brand…

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Finding Solace & Entertainment Under Quarantine: China’s Netizens Pave the Way

March 12, 2020 by Jason Li

There’s been a raft of great coverage recently about how people in China are adapting to life under quarantine, especially the ways that they’re leveraging technology to entertain themselves at this stressful situation. Below is a recap of some of what we’ve seen (with a hearty shout-out to those who first reported on it).

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As The Coronavirus Rages On, Cartoonists Lash Out With Irony, Quiet And Candor

February 10, 2020 by Jason Li

A muscular half person, half snake has wrapped a bunch of doctors and journalists in its arms and is gesturing for them to be silent. — Created by 撒旦君 Sadan via Weibo.

Despite dramatic measures taken to stem the tide, the coronavirus is still spreading across China and the rest of the world. Confined to their homes, independent cartoonists in China continue expressing their views around the epidemic through their works. Some creators have…

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21 Chinese Cartoonists Unite in a Dragonball Fanfic to Fight the Coronavirus

January 31, 2020 by Jason Li

A fight sequence between the heroes and villains of Dragonball. Goku starts casting a spirit bomb.

The villain is defeated by the spirit bomb that collects the energy of the people of the earth.

Setting the scene for our current disaster: the coronavirus in Wuhan.

A Hubei hero is trying to cast a spirit bomb but requires more energy. An SOS text message is sent to the rest of the world requesting their help.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part one.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part two.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part three.

…

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Chinese Cartoonists Grieve, Pray & Respond to the Coronavirus Outbreak

January 24, 2020 by Jason Li

An anxious seal and octopus in a crowded room with their suitcase. Everyone has surgical masks on. — Illustration by Wang XX from Weibo.

As Wuhan and other nearby cities in China remain in lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, the normally festive Lunar New Year season is now beset with anxiety and grief. People across the country have taken to social media…

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Photo essay: China Residencies’ 2019 cross-country tour of arts spaces

July 10, 2019 by Jason Li

Montage of our photos of people and art in China

Ahead of its sixth Crystal Ruth Bell Residency program (apply now – it’s fully funded!), the team at China Residencies took a cross-country tour around China to visit art and culture spaces new and old. Below we’re featuring photo highlights from this strip, which have been culled…

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Chinese Comics Review

Cantonese.jpg: A boisterous, cartoon dictionary of idioms, proverbs and slang

May 27, 2019 by Jason Li

Two covers for the Cantonese.jpg books, featuring a cartoon chicken reading/eating Cantonese text

Hong Kong cartoonist Ah To has three claims to fame: as an internet culture expert, political cartoonist, and linguist of the Cantonese language. First, he rose to prominence after creating the Golden Creature Card game that celebrates the city’s internet culture. Then he built a career as a political…

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China Meme Report

Acceptable Protest: The 2019 workplace meme that’s thriving on China’s internet

May 21, 2019 by Jason Li

Photo of a booklet of China's labor laws taped onto the glassdoor of Ant Financial — Anonymous selfie of person giving Ant Financial/Alibaba a booklet of China’s labor laws. Source: 996action GitHub repo.

Internet memes about social issues have a spotty history on China’s internet, where netizens have had to evade, obfuscate and mask their posts in an evolving game of censorship cat…

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Chinese Comics Review

An illustrated love letter to the Beijing underground music scene

May 7, 2019 by Jason Li

Cover image of Open All The Buddha Boxes (excerpt)

This early excerpt from Open All the Buddha Boxes chronicles the rise of two seminal Beijing bands, Hang On The Box and Chui Wan, as they carve out a space for themselves in and outside of China. We follow members of the two bands as they develop their sounds, identities and…

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An Anthology of Naked Underground Chinese Comics

February 13, 2019 by Jason Li

I started working with Orion at Paradise Systems a few months ago, and ICYMI we launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish an anthology of semi-illicit, nudity-flaunting comics from China:

Naked Body is a 100-page, full color anthology edited by Yan…

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八八吧 · 88 Bar

Author: Jason Li