What are the Chinese images in overseas animation: table tennis, panda, Jackie Chan?

Posted on

I don't know if you have found out that in many animation works from overseas, many of the "second-order Chinese people" appearing in this place will have such a setting: some of them wear long gowns and tie small ones, while others are proficient in their appearance. A variety of martial arts (cooking skills), and some have mysterious Eastern powers, often with a fighting force or a panda that bursts into the table...

Although we can see from these people that TA comes from China, these characters from the second world are very different from the Chinese in real life. So, when did this start, these "symbolic" characters are closely linked to the Chinese, and how will the Chinese image change in future animation works?
Stereotypes brought about by the "yellow disaster"
Although the question "Which is the first Chinese character in overseas animation works" is almost impossible, I believe that in the minds of many anime fans, the super villain from Man Wei comics is "Man Da Ren" (English name: Mandarin) ), I am afraid it is the image of the classic "Secondary Edition Chinese" with the most influence and the longest birth time.
Manchu was the number one enemy of Iron Man. He first appeared in the 50th issue of Suspense Story published in February 1964, and was jointly created by Stan Lee, Jack Kobe, Larry Lipper and Don Heck. Manchus with Genghis Khan's blood was born around 1920. He is especially good at martial arts and mysterious magical powers, and because his ultimate ambition is to destroy human civilization, he is also the biggest villain in the Marvel comic world. He was IGN in 2009. Listed as 81 of the top 100 villains in the history of comics.

From the character's image, you can find all the descriptions of the villains in the Manchu: a dark and awkward expression, a long hair and a beard that is supple but does not make people feel good, standing at any time in "justice" opposite. In fact, such a character setting is influenced by the incarnation of "Yellow Peril" - "Dr. Fu Manchu".
The Yellow Peril is an ultra-nationalist theory formed in the late 19th century. It mainly promotes the threat of yellow people to white people. The main target is Asian countries such as China and Japan. Influenced by the Western Chinese Movement at the time, Dr. Fu Manzhou, who had a sharp chin, a splayed character, and a slender eye, and always planned all kinds of evil activities, began to appear in the American film industry, and then influenced it for a long time. The depiction of the Chinese by the overseas art creations, which naturally includes animation.

Even today, we can still see the profound cultural influence of the "Yellow Peril" - although those Eastern faces with sharp chins, splayed characters, and slender eyes have long had no villain attributes, they are likely to be one. A bit of a calculation, in a mysterious place opened a profiteer selling magical props shop.
The gradual opening of the country, so that the "secondary version of the Chinese" added more attributes
Since the 1970s, with the major historical events such as President Nixon’s visit to China, the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations, and reform and opening up, cultural exchanges between New China and the outside world have become more frequent. During this time period, foreigners want to know that China often depends on two things, one is table tennis and the other is panda.
“Ping Pong Diplomacy” usually refers to a series of events in which the Chinese and American table tennis teams exchanged visits during 1971. It not only accelerated the pace of the new China to the world, but also the outstanding performance of the Chinese table tennis team in international competitions. At the cultural level, table tennis and the Chinese began to draw the equal sign. Therefore, the image of the Chinese who appeared in many cultural creations overseas has been given the setting of “very good to play table tennis”.
Specific to the animation field, the most familiar to the young people in China today is that Matsumoto Ocean was launched in 1996, and was later adapted into an animated work by Ping Yuzheng in 2014.

In the anime work of Ping Pong, Kong Wenge is a smashing attacker from Shanghai, China. He came to Japan because he was not selected for the Chinese national team and became a nightmare for many Japanese high school students. In fact, Kong Wenge's name comes from the Chinese national hand Kong Linghui and Ma Wenge during the comic series. His character image itself can reflect the consistent impression of Chinese table tennis strength to the outside world.
In addition to table tennis, Panda is also a particularly common Chinese element in many overseas animation works. Since 1972, the United States, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Mexico and Spain have been awarded pandas. This black and white "friendly ambassador" has begun to burst around the world, becoming the most common Chinese cultural element. .
For example, Takahashi Rumiko’s comic book "Ragma 1/2", which was created in 1987, is not the Chinese, but his father’s father, the early Otome, is not a Chinese, but he accidentally fell into the "Panda Springs" in China’s Manquan Township. It becomes a setting that turns into a panda when it encounters cold water.

In the "Fullmetal Alchemist" created by Arakawa in 2001, Zhang Mei, who is from the new kingdom of the East and is particularly good at alchemy, always has a small panda around her. Can be reminiscent of "mysterious oriental power."

Due to the high recognition of the pandas, there are even many panda-based animation works overseas. From the "White Bear Cafe" lived in a Chinese-style mansion, especially like a bowl of bamboo pandas, to "Kung Fu Panda" mistakenly hit the Kung Fu master "Dragon Warrior" A Bao, then to "Our naked bear "Panda with a moderate personality and a special social network. Even if there is no clear nationality setting in these works, Panda's embarrassing magical creature has gradually become a representative of Chinese ethnic groups all over the world in the long-term development process." .

Interestingly, as foreigners learn more about China, the image of Chinese people in many overseas animation and film productions has gradually become more positive at this point in time.
In August 1980, "Millions of Heroes" began to appear in "The Incredible Hulk." This is a superhero composed of the mutant five-child brothers Tao Yuhan, Tao Yuzhang, Tao Yulin, Tao Yusun and Tao Yuhe. The ability is a combination of five people, and it is huge by sensing the life force of Chinese people all over the world. Energy - one billion gods. Later, in the comic story, Wan Zhongxia and the Radiant, Princess Xiangyun, Ms. Sun, the eternal ninth, the perfect hero, and the beast of science formed the super hero team representing the “People’s Defence Force”, which was once in the national interest. Confronted with the Avengers.
Although ACGx does not believe that such a character setting can satisfy all Chinese people, it can actually reflect that the creators of many foreign cultural works have become more diversified in China: they are particularly good at table tennis. Sports and personality are as gentle and peaceful as pandas, and they also have a force to be reckoned with in terms of population, economy, and military.
The golden age of Hong Kong movies, let "Kung Fu" affect the global animation
Among many overseas cultural and entertainment works, many Chinese characters are martial arts masters who are good at kung fu, and all have the basic settings that can easily “play ten”. In fact, such a cultural label is derived from the influence of the Hong Kong film "Kung Fu Film" in the 1970s and 1980s.
"Kung Fu Film" is one of the biggest achievements of Hong Kong movies. Since the "Tangshan Brothers" (1971) "Jingwumen" (1972) "The Raptors Crossed the River" (1972), the three films starring Bruce Lee entered the international market, the "Kung Fu" from China has been popular around the world. For a while. But with the death of Bruce Lee in 1973, the Kung Fu film once fell into a trough.
In 1978, "Snake-shaped Hand" and "Drunken Boxing" directed by Yuan Heping and starring Jackie Chan were released. Because these two films are based on traditional kung fu movies, they try to incorporate a lot of comedy elements, creating a new type of "comedy kung fu movies", which was a sensation in the Hong Kong, Japan, and Southeast Asian film markets. This also affected the Japanese animation industry at that time.

In the inaugural issue of the 2003 US version of "Jumper Jump", Japanese cartoonist Toriyama Akira said in an interview that if there was no "Drunken Boxing" starring Jackie Chan, he would not be able to create the "Dragon Ball" that was popular around the world. Now think about it, the character images in these two works do have many similarities:
For example, the master who taught Jackie Chan's drunken fist in Drunken Boxing is like the grandfather Sun Wufan of Sun Wukong in Dragon Ball.

The name used by the turtle fairy to participate in the first martial arts meeting in the world is called "Jackie."

In addition, the early villain of the "Dragon Ball" story is fascinating, and its shape is similar to Shangguan Yiyun, played by Huang Zhengli in "Snake-shaped Hand".

In fact, the impact of Hong Kong movies on Japanese animation culture does not stop there. In Japanese anime works such as "Crayon Shinchan", "Naruto" and "Gintama", we can see many martial arts moves and story bridges related to Hong Kong "comedy kung fu movies" such as "Drunken Boxing" and "A Plan".

In many Japanese anime works with different themes, there are also the classic images of zombies in Hong Kong's "Spiritual Kung Fu Movies". Among them, "Psychic King" in the road to hold the spirit (zombie) "Li Bailong", the role of the prototype is the Kung Fu master Bruce Lee.

Even "Mouth of Time" Lin Mingmei, "Magic Girl Sakura" Li Ran Bell, "Mobile Suit Gundam 00" Wang Liumei, and the game "Street Fighter" in the spring, they have combed the "bun head" shape, In fact, it is also derived from the famous martial arts actress Mao Wei in the film "Breaking the Rings" (1977).



It can be said that the success of the Kung Fu film in the film market in the 1970s and 1980s made Chinese Kung Fu begin to move toward the world. It is precisely because of the cultural output of Hong Kong movies that a large number of Chinese-related characters have emerged in overseas animation works. Although there are still many strange misunderstandings, at least it has become more and more The closer to the Chinese culture, the more it has to be said to be a good thing.
Through cross-border cooperation, the “second-yuan Chinese” began to become closer to reality.
Nowadays, China, which has a pivotal position in the international community, is no longer mysterious, and the golden age of Hong Kong movies is long gone. Therefore, for a long time in the past, the image of Chinese people in overseas animation works is more The combination of various cultural labels has not changed in a very big way.
However, with the rapid development of China's animation industry in recent years, the “nationality boundary” of Chinese animation and overseas animation seems to be becoming more and more blurred. In particular, a series of layouts and operations of Chinese companies at the capital level, such as the Chinese-American co-production animated film "Kung Fu Panda 3", and the emergence of a large number of Sino-Japanese cooperative animation projects launched by companies such as Tencent Animation, Music Elements, and Dreaming Animation. It is also to explain that the "origin classification" of animation works in the intrinsic thinking has not kept up with the changes of the times.

ACGx also noted that these works, which are multinational cooperation and active in the overseas animation market, are also quietly changing the inherent perception of the Chinese image by overseas audiences.
In terms of character image setting, perhaps due to market operation considerations, many Chinese characters in the international animation project have not appeared on their body, such as buns, cheongsam, and panda 6. Labeled Chinese elements. In other words, if there is no background support as a support, it is really difficult to tell which country the TA is. In 2016, the "Star Dreams" and the "Dream and Practice" launched by the music element are very Classic example.

However, the Chinese characters appearing in these multinational animation projects are closer to the Chinese in real life in terms of character and logic of thinking. In the past, the images of Chinese people born in Japan and American anime creators, all the stories that happened in them are nothing but justice will defeat evil, but the Chinese in these international animation works are not so black and white. Clearly defined characters, everything done by each character is judged based on their respective positions. The way of thinking is more like the "yin and yang balance" that Chinese people pay particular attention to.
This may be the truest side of the Chinese: in daily life, we don't have too many Chinese elements in the label, but in terms of doing things for people, the Chinese often have their own unique persistence and habits.