Modern Miscellany

Paul Bevan, Ph.D (SOAS, 2013), has taught Chinese history and modern Chinese literature at SOAS and the University of Oxford. His wide-ranging research interests include the impact of Western art and literature on China during the Republican period and the study of inscriptions on eighteenth-century art objects.

• AcknowledgementsNote on the IllustrationsList of IllustrationsNotes on Romanization and ReferencesNotes on SourcesIntroductionA Modern MiscellanyThe Cartoon as Part of the Modern Art Scene in ShanghaiThe ManhuahuiPart 1: The Beginnings of the Modern Chinese CartoonChapter 1: Manhua Artists in Shanghai Marc Chadourne and Paul Morand Vanity Fair Western Models of Art and Literature in Shanghai manhua English Decadence in Shanghai The Modern and the Decadent—The Cubist Shanghai Life, Lust, and Snake and WomanConclusion Chapter 2: Shao Xunmei and his Circle Shao Xunmei and Pictorial Magazines Shao Xunmei and Salon Culture The Yunshang Fashion Company The Zhang Brothers—Designers A Depiction of Shao Xunmei by Wang Zimei A Letter to Emily HahnPart 2: Adoption of Foreign Models in Art and LiteratureChapter 3: Miguel Covarrubias Covarrubias Goes to China: 1930 Covarrubias Goes to China Again: 1933 Covarrubias’s Illustrations to Chine (China) Chinese Artists and the Covarrubias Style “Impossible Interviews” Large-scale Group Caricatures Ding Cong and the Mexican MuralistsThe Legacy of CovarrubiasChapter 4: The Chinese Cartoonists and George GroszThe Art of George Grosz in ShanghaiGeorge Grosz and ChinaProponents of the “Grosz-style”A Foreigner’s View of the Grosz ImitatorsCai Ruohong: China’s “New Grosz”?The Chinese View of Grosz’s WorkConclusionPart 3: The Dissemination of Chinese Political ArtChapter 5: Jack Chen in ChinaChen Arrives in ShanghaiThe Cartoons of Jack Chen in ShanghaiChen and Soviet Socialist RealismThe Letters of Jack ChenFrom China to Moscow and London: The Beginnings of Chen’s World TourAnthony Blunt: A Champion of Chen’s CauseChapter 6: The First National Cartoon ExhibitionA Suitable Venue: The Sun Company BuildingThe ExhibitionNews in the Shanghai PressJack Chen: The Only Foreign ExhibitorPortraiture: A Genre for Political Persuasion?The Paintings of Hua Lu: Lacking a Political Message?Surrealism: Modern Art and the Manhua ArtistsCai Ruohong RemembersForeigners on Manhua: Two Contrasting ViewsA Review by Jack ChenAn Anonymous CritiqueZhang Guangyu’s Cover Design for ManhuajieManhua: An Art for China’s FutureChapter 7: Chinese Art and its Part in the Worldwide Fight against FascismHong Kong: First Port of CallGuangzhou: Caught in the Air RaidsChen is Sent to Europe and America Hu Kao: A Shanghai CartoonistHu Kao and Jack Chen go to Yan’anHong Kong: Last Port of CallEpilogueConclusionBibliographyIndex

"The book supports its two arguments through exhaustive engagement with primary sources, drawn mainly from an impressive array of newspapers and pictorial magazines, both English and Chinese, as well as letters and other ephemera from multiple archives. A Modern Miscellany does an excellent job of fact-checking biographical detail on China’s cartoonists and their associates. [...] With its careful scholarship and respect for historical accuracy, A Modern Miscellany helps lay a foundation for many years of manhua research to come." - John A Crespi, Colgate University, in: MCLC Resource Center, August 2016"This volume is a major contribution to modern Chinese studies in general. That is because it traces the ideological development of Shanghai artists and writers, who were the avant-garde of the whole country, from the aestheticism of Shao Xunmei to the leftist activism of Lu Xun. In this respect, Shanghai’s literati, unusual though they were, might be seen as a microcosm of Chinese society at the time. Furthermore, the book is relevant to current cross-cultural studies, since it is mainly about how Chinese artists adapted European sources to their own needs and styles at a time when China was trying to forge a modern identity. Finally, anyone interested in the place and time will appreciate Bevan’s reconstruction of its art scene and the interrelations of the characters in it." - Hal Swindall, Jinan University, in: China Review International, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2015)"I owe a great debt to academics and Sinologists… now add Paul Bevan to the list… a fantastic new book on old Shanghai" - Paul French, author of Midnight in Peking (2011) and City of Devils (2018)