Picturing pain
By Xu Ming Source:Global Times Published: 2012-12-11 19:15:04
Japanese army enters Beiping in 1937
Li Kunwu at work. Photos: Courtesy of Li.
When Li Kunwu was sauntering through a curio market in Kunming over 10 years ago, he didn't expect that his idle dialogue with a stall-keeper could lead to a whopping discovery of historical facts from the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). Now the discovery, which includes thousands of pictures, maps and souvenir albums of the Japanese army, has become another important record of the war to show to the public.
In his new cartoon book The Scar, published by SDX Joint Publishing Company last month, Li, a veteran and cartoonist, included over 400 pictures in addition to the drawings about his encounter with the historical materials and the sorting-out process. "We've seen numerous books and movies about the war, but most of them are from a Chinese perspective," Li told Global Times, "now we can see how Japanese themselves looked at it, through their lens."
When Li Kunwu was sauntering through a curio market in Kunming over 10 years ago, he didn't expect that his idle dialogue with a stall-keeper could lead to a whopping discovery of historical facts from the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). Now the discovery, which includes thousands of pictures, maps and souvenir albums of the Japanese army, has become another important record of the war to show to the public.
In his new cartoon book The Scar, published by SDX Joint Publishing Company last month, Li, a veteran and cartoonist, included over 400 pictures in addition to the drawings about his encounter with the historical materials and the sorting-out process. "We've seen numerous books and movies about the war, but most of them are from a Chinese perspective," Li told Global Times, "now we can see how Japanese themselves looked at it, through their lens."
Book of history
The Scar, a combination of cartoons and old pictures, tells how the author accidentally runs into a large quantity of historical materials about the war. The book is based on Li's personal experiences. In the book, Old Li encounters Qi, a peddler in a curio market in Kunming. Qi first shows Li a picture from the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), and then takes him to the house of his teacher who owns a great number of pictures of the Japanese army.
The teacher had once done quite well in the curio business but went bankrupt after buying so many pictures. He is reluctant to sell them in spite of living a poverty-stricken life, particularly after hearing that Japanese people are trying to buy these pictures back at high prices. Qi persuades the old teacher to let Li take some photos. As a result, Li and Qi get the chance to see pictures that had been hidden from public view for decades.
Li told Global Times that there were over 5,000 pictures in total: photographs, war charts and maps, giving the details of the Japanese army's plans and invasion of China, and covering topics such as politics, military, economy and society during the war period.
The pictures are the main body of the book, placed in different themes and with explanations. Li starts with a picture of the Sino-Japanese War showing how the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was bullied by a greedy Japan. Next are abundant pictures of Japanese soldiers, their tanks, swords and the two Chinese characters "Zhi Na," a contemptuous name for China that is mentioned frequently.
Military correspondents also photographed troupe moments around China. Japanese soldiers are seen marching on the Great Wall, under the city gates, and mounted on Chaoyang Gate in Beiping. There are scenes of Japanese soldiers stealing goats, while others are covered with blood or cheering a victory. In the background are abandoned and burned houses, farms, streets and broken bridges.
With eye-catching headlines and pictures, the propaganda album recorded Japanese army's every triumph during the invasions of China.
In every war, civilians are the innocent victims. The book also touches on the personal fate of Li's father-in-law who was crippled by a bomb during a Japanese air raid over Kunming in 1938. In the end, the book transports readers back to modern times as Li looks for Qi's teacher whose old home within the city has been demolished - the price of urbanization.
The Scar, a combination of cartoons and old pictures, tells how the author accidentally runs into a large quantity of historical materials about the war. The book is based on Li's personal experiences. In the book, Old Li encounters Qi, a peddler in a curio market in Kunming. Qi first shows Li a picture from the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), and then takes him to the house of his teacher who owns a great number of pictures of the Japanese army.
The teacher had once done quite well in the curio business but went bankrupt after buying so many pictures. He is reluctant to sell them in spite of living a poverty-stricken life, particularly after hearing that Japanese people are trying to buy these pictures back at high prices. Qi persuades the old teacher to let Li take some photos. As a result, Li and Qi get the chance to see pictures that had been hidden from public view for decades.
Li told Global Times that there were over 5,000 pictures in total: photographs, war charts and maps, giving the details of the Japanese army's plans and invasion of China, and covering topics such as politics, military, economy and society during the war period.
The pictures are the main body of the book, placed in different themes and with explanations. Li starts with a picture of the Sino-Japanese War showing how the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was bullied by a greedy Japan. Next are abundant pictures of Japanese soldiers, their tanks, swords and the two Chinese characters "Zhi Na," a contemptuous name for China that is mentioned frequently.
Military correspondents also photographed troupe moments around China. Japanese soldiers are seen marching on the Great Wall, under the city gates, and mounted on Chaoyang Gate in Beiping. There are scenes of Japanese soldiers stealing goats, while others are covered with blood or cheering a victory. In the background are abandoned and burned houses, farms, streets and broken bridges.
With eye-catching headlines and pictures, the propaganda album recorded Japanese army's every triumph during the invasions of China.
In every war, civilians are the innocent victims. The book also touches on the personal fate of Li's father-in-law who was crippled by a bomb during a Japanese air raid over Kunming in 1938. In the end, the book transports readers back to modern times as Li looks for Qi's teacher whose old home within the city has been demolished - the price of urbanization.
Arduous creation
To Bao Zhun, editor of the book, The Scar is special in that Li integrates the heaviness of history with personal fate and shows how an ordinary Chinese person sees this period of history. "The war has hurt innumerous Chinese families like Li's father-in-law. The book could wake up the memory of history," he said, "If we expect Japan to reflect on the past, we need to remember it and take it seriously first."
Reading the book is to relive the history, but the cartoons and pictures make it far from dull. Many interviewed readers said The Scar stands out among many books about the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. "While this period of history is heavy, cartoons are more attractive than words in telling it, particularly for young people," a reader said.
However, the creation process was a tedious one. Li told Global Times that the first challenge for him was how to blend pictures and cartoons. "It is a combination few people have tried and I had to figure out how to tell an interesting story based on them. It would be very dull if I simply put all the pictures there," he said.
He sometimes wanted to give up due to the heavy workload, but the sense of responsibility supported him to the end. "I feel obliged to keep that part of history. That's the only thing I can do as an ordinary Chinese," Li said, "Both Chinese and Japanese people should remember it."
To Li, the pictures not only contain a record of the Japanese army's crimes in China, but also show Japanese people's attitude toward war. They called the planned invasion an "incident" in their propaganda, when in fact it was undisguised aggression.
The biggest obstacle for Li is the emotional shock from the pictures of the air raid over Kunming, during which his father-in-law lost his family. It is the most painful scar for the family. "The emotion shock and the heaviness of history made the whole process painful and depressing, but fortunately I'm a veteran and strong enough to bear it without crumbling."
"The best way to find relief is by remembering. The wound that one cannot touch hurts the most, for both Chinese and Japanese," he wrote in the preface.
To Bao Zhun, editor of the book, The Scar is special in that Li integrates the heaviness of history with personal fate and shows how an ordinary Chinese person sees this period of history. "The war has hurt innumerous Chinese families like Li's father-in-law. The book could wake up the memory of history," he said, "If we expect Japan to reflect on the past, we need to remember it and take it seriously first."
Reading the book is to relive the history, but the cartoons and pictures make it far from dull. Many interviewed readers said The Scar stands out among many books about the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. "While this period of history is heavy, cartoons are more attractive than words in telling it, particularly for young people," a reader said.
However, the creation process was a tedious one. Li told Global Times that the first challenge for him was how to blend pictures and cartoons. "It is a combination few people have tried and I had to figure out how to tell an interesting story based on them. It would be very dull if I simply put all the pictures there," he said.
He sometimes wanted to give up due to the heavy workload, but the sense of responsibility supported him to the end. "I feel obliged to keep that part of history. That's the only thing I can do as an ordinary Chinese," Li said, "Both Chinese and Japanese people should remember it."
To Li, the pictures not only contain a record of the Japanese army's crimes in China, but also show Japanese people's attitude toward war. They called the planned invasion an "incident" in their propaganda, when in fact it was undisguised aggression.
The biggest obstacle for Li is the emotional shock from the pictures of the air raid over Kunming, during which his father-in-law lost his family. It is the most painful scar for the family. "The emotion shock and the heaviness of history made the whole process painful and depressing, but fortunately I'm a veteran and strong enough to bear it without crumbling."
"The best way to find relief is by remembering. The wound that one cannot touch hurts the most, for both Chinese and Japanese," he wrote in the preface.
Future direction
To Li, the biggest pity of the book is that there are too many omitted pictures, but space is limited. "Over 400 pictures are [included] and some have no explanation," he said, "I might consider doing more work on it in the future." He revealed that he has bought the pictures with others' help, to avoid the precious historical materials ending up in improper hands.
As a veteran, he understands the pain of war and worries that history might be ignored. "But the most terrible thing is that history is sometimes seriously twisted in some TV series and movies," he said, "When we tell about history, it should be true."
The 57-year-old cartoonist has been drawing cartoons since childhood. He called himself a grass-roots painter because he never received any professional art training.
But that hasn't stopped him. He has produced over 30 books. Among them is the trilogy A Chinese Life, an autobiographical story reflecting a changing China that has been highly praised abroad and has won many international cartoon prizes.
A Chinese Life was originally published in French. Though versions in several languages have successively come out, there is no Chinese version. Fortunately, SDX now plans to publish one early next year, and is encouraging the author to stay with his "everyman" theme.
"I will continue to explore the nature of humanity, history and culture in my future creations, and several books will come out soon. I hope my works will be popular at home too," he said.
To Li, the biggest pity of the book is that there are too many omitted pictures, but space is limited. "Over 400 pictures are [included] and some have no explanation," he said, "I might consider doing more work on it in the future." He revealed that he has bought the pictures with others' help, to avoid the precious historical materials ending up in improper hands.
As a veteran, he understands the pain of war and worries that history might be ignored. "But the most terrible thing is that history is sometimes seriously twisted in some TV series and movies," he said, "When we tell about history, it should be true."
The 57-year-old cartoonist has been drawing cartoons since childhood. He called himself a grass-roots painter because he never received any professional art training.
But that hasn't stopped him. He has produced over 30 books. Among them is the trilogy A Chinese Life, an autobiographical story reflecting a changing China that has been highly praised abroad and has won many international cartoon prizes.
A Chinese Life was originally published in French. Though versions in several languages have successively come out, there is no Chinese version. Fortunately, SDX now plans to publish one early next year, and is encouraging the author to stay with his "everyman" theme.
"I will continue to explore the nature of humanity, history and culture in my future creations, and several books will come out soon. I hope my works will be popular at home too," he said.
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