University of Heidelberg

In my doctoral project, I would investigate satirical pictures of the late 19th and early 20th century in two perspectives: asymmetry and flow. In the Chinese case, the targets pictures satirized were wide and various, including imperialists’ invasion, current politics, Chinese traditions and culture, habits, even the Westerners and their culture. Such contradictive attitude does help us to understand how Chinese identified with themselves and might seek a balanced way for a change under this asymmetric impact. Moreover, the West’s colonialism and imperialism led to an exchange between East and West, I argue asymmetry makes flow move from one place to another not only forwards, but also backwards, and even spread out. In this way, I would explore how these images were presented in different contexts and what mechanism and ideology were hidden behind by tracing the “journey” of pictures.