Visualizing Folk Love Songs: De/politicization of Sinicized Cartoons in North China under Japanese Occupation

Abstract:During the War of Resistance against Japan (1937–1945), cartoons constituted an important type of cultural production in Japanese-occupied China. Most scholarship focuses on the political stances shown in such cartoons. However, this article explores Chinese cartoons that seldom directly addressed political issues in wartime North China. In 1935, Zhang Guangyu created the first Folk Love Songs cartoon, which has been seen as representative of Sinicized cartoons, emphasizing the national characteristics shown in Chinese folk culture. With changes in formal and ideological matters, Folk Love Songs cartoons continued to appear in Japanese-occupied North China, featuring quotidian topics. This article argues that, by visualizing everyday life, Folk Love Songs cartoons displaced and de/politicized (depoliticized and simultaneously repoliticized) the national characteristics embedded in prewar Sinicized cartoons. The motif showcases the complexity of wartime cultural production that was not totally occupied by political propaganda.