Manhua

The word was originally an 18th-century term used in Chinese literati painting. It became popular in Japan as manga in the late 19th century. Feng Zikai reintroduced the word to Chinese, in the modern sense, with his 1925 series of political cartoons entitled Zikai Manhua in the Wenxue Zhoubao (Literature Weekly). While terms other than had existed before, this particular publication took precedence over the many other descriptions for cartoon art that were used previously and came to be associated with all Chinese comic materials. The Chinese characters for are identical to those used for the Japanese manga and Korean manhwa. Someone who draws or writes is referred to as a (). ==History==

The oldest surviving examples of Chinese drawings are stone reliefs from the 11th century BC and pottery from 5000 to 3000 BC. Many reliefs, such as those from the Wu Family Shrines of the Han dynasty, detail historical events using sequential storytelling. Other examples include symbolic brush drawings from the Ming Dynasty, a satirical drawing titled "Peacocks" by the early Qing Dynasty artist Zhu Da, and a work called "Ghosts' Farce Pictures" from around 1771 by Luo Liang-feng. Chinese was born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, roughly during the years 1867 to 1927. The introduction of lithographic printing methods derived from the West was a critical step in expanding the art in the early 20th century. Beginning in the 1870s, satirical drawings appeared in newspapers and periodicals. By the 1920s palm-sized picture books like Lianhuanhua were popular in Shanghai. They are considered the predecessor of modern-day . One of the first magazines of satirical cartoons came from the United Kingdom entitled The China Punch. , one of the earliest popular manhua'' characters from Hong Kong. The rise of Chinese immigration turned Hong Kong into the main -ready market, especially with the baby boom generation of children. The most influential magazine for adults was the 1956 Cartoons World, which fueled the best-selling Uncle Choi. The availability of Japanese and Taiwanese comics challenged the local industry, selling at a pirated bargain price of 10 cents. Several other have also won the Silver and Bronze Awards at the International Manga Award. , first published in popular Chinese comics magazine Comicsfan Culture'' (漫友文化). In the second half of the 2000s and early 2010s, various Chinese cartoonists began using social media to spread satirical strips and cartoons online. Print publishing, being strictly controlled in China, is slowly being traded in for microblogging websites such as Sina Weibo and Douban, where can reach a wide audience while subject to less editorial control. Despite China being a major consumer of comics for decades, the medium has never been taken as "serious works of art". R. Martin of The Comics Journal describes the Chinese outlook on comics as "pulpy imitations of films". Furthermore, China strictly controls the publishing of comics, and as a result, cartoonists faced difficulty reaching a large audience. Many cartoonists in the late 2000s began self-publishing their work on social media instead of attempting to issue paper editions. Websites such as Douban (2005) and Sina Weibo (2009) are popular venues for web manhua and webcomics. In the second half of the 2010s, South Korean webtoons and webtoon platforms have become increasingly popular in China. In 2016, two have been adapted into anime television series: Yi Ren Zhi Xia and Soul Buster. Another series, Bloodivores, based on a web , will start airing on October 1, 2016. Another series, The Silver Guardian, premiered in the Spring 2017 season. Two years later, Ultramarine Magmell, another Chinese manhua, got an anime in 2019. Taiwanese manhua , 2015. being interviewed at TAICCA Taiwan Comics event. Taiwanese manhua has its origins during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Prior to this, Taiwan produced publications combining text and images, such as illustrated novels. In the early 20th century, influenced by Japan, the first comic-style magazines appeared in Taiwan, including Taiwan Puck (1911), Tetsuwan Puck (1912), and Takasago Puck (1916), inspired by Japanese publications. During the Japanese occupation, interest in comics grew, and publications began to include colored cartoons and satirical works. In 1921, the Taiwan Daily News began publishing a comic section, which became an important source of content for the local population. After World War II, the influx of Chinese Lianhuanhua and American comics like Blondie and Dennis the Menace, along with the piracy of Japanese manga, helped solidify the popularity of comics in Taiwan. In the following decades, especially after the island’s democratization in the 1990s, manhua gained recognition as a legitimate form of artistic and cultural expression. ==Categories==

Before the official terminology was established, the art form was known by several names. Today's are simply distinguished by four categories. ==Characteristics==

Modern Chinese-style characteristics is credited to the breakthrough art work of the 1982 Chinese Hero. Unlike manga, it had more realistic drawings with details resembling real people. Most also comes in full color with some panels rendered entirely in painting for the single issue format. Most work from the 1800s to the 1930s contained characters that appeared serious. The cultural openness in Hong Kong brought the translation of American Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Pinocchio in the 1950s, demonstrating western influence in local work like Little Angeli in 1954. Both the influx of translated Japanese manga of the 1960s and televised anime in Hong Kong also made a significant impression. ==Differences in formatting==

Depending on where they are created, can have differences in the way they are formatted and presented. Besides the use of traditional and simplified Chinese characters, may also need to be read differently depending on where they are from. Their original Chinese text is placed horizontally in from mainland China and read from left-to-right (like Western comics and Korean manhwa), while Taiwanese and Hong Kongese have the characters rendered vertically top-to-bottom and sentences are read from right-to-left (like Japanese manga). These are due to differences in the style prescribed by the governments of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. ==Digital ==

Web Digital , known as web , are a growing art form in China. Web are posted on social media and web portals, which serve as a lower bar of entry than the strictly controlled print publication outlets in the country. Though little money is currently made through online in China, the medium has become popular due to ease of uploading and publishing titles, color publication, and free reading access. Some popular web sites include QQ Comic and U17. In recent years, several Chinese web have been adapted into animated series, with some in co-production with the Japanese animation industry. Webcomics As microblogging and webcomics were gaining popularity in China, the form was increasingly used for political activism and satire. Despite China being a major consumer of comics for decades, the medium has never been taken as "serious works of art". R. Martin of The Comics Journal describes the Chinese outlook on comics as "pulpy imitations of films". Furthermore, China strictly controls the publishing of comics, and as a result, cartoonists faced difficulty reaching a large audience. Many cartoonists in the late 2000s began self-publishing their work on social media instead of attempting to issue paper editions. Websites such as Douban (2005) and Sina Weibo (2009) are popular venues for webcomics. Images censored from Sina Weibo include a portrait of Mao Zedong wearing a pollution mask, a photo compilation identifying the expensive watches on the wrists of supposedly low-waged local officials, and criticism on police action, censorship in education, and the one child policy. Webtoons Webtoons have grown in popularity in China as another form to consume and produce in the country thanks in part to the popularity of South Korean webtoons. Microblogging platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent have also offered webtoons on their digital sites alongside web-based , several of which have been translated into various languages. While webtoon portals in mainland China are mainly run by big internet companies, webtoon portals in Taiwan are offered and operated by big webtoon publishers outside the country like Comico, and Naver (under the Line brand). ==Economics==

Political cartoonist Liu "Big Corpse Brother" Jun had over 130,000 followers on Sina Weibo in December 2013, and Kuang Biao has his work appear both online and in various print journals. The Taiwanese comics industry expects webcomics to prosper financially, though no accurate figures exist as of yet. Prize-winning cartoonists such as Chung Yun-de and Yeh Yu-tung were forced to turn to webcomics as their monthly income was too low to live from. Beijing cartoonist Bu Er Miao sells her webcomic Electric Cat and Lightning Dog on Douban's eBook service for 1.99 CNY (roughly 0.30 USD). When asked about whether she makes a profit off of her webcomic, Miao described the 1.79 CNY she makes per comic sold as "an amount of money that if you saw it on the street, no one would bother to pick it up." ==Adaptations==

The Chinese webcomic One Hundred Thousand Bad Jokes received a film adaptation of the same name released in 2014. In 2016, two anime series based on Chinese web were broadcast: Hitori no Shita: The Outcast, based on Under One Person by Dong Man Tang and Bloodivores, based on a web by Bai Xiao. A Chinese-Japanese animated series based on Chōyū Sekai is scheduled to air in 2017. Another series, The Silver Guardian, based on The Silver Guardian, premiered in 2017. Chang Ge Xing, a live-action adaptation of the of the same name by Xia Da, began filming in 2019. The Taiwanese Manhua series Brave Series received an animated television series adaptation released in 2021. The first season received positive reviews, and won the Award of Best Animated Series on the 57th Golden Bell Awards. A second season was released in 2025. Kakao, operating the Korean webtoon portal Daum Webtoon, has collaborated with the Chinese Huace Group in order to produce live-action, Chinese language films and television dramas based on South Korean webtoons. ==See also==