"Attachment Theory", "Neuroaesthetics", "Modern and Premodern" ......These "difficult words" and Feng Zikai's (1898-1975) "kitten relatives", "sandpiper clam blind date" and other "shallow and easy pictures" appeared in an academic journal at the same time, the "serious and lively" style has become a unique scene in the academic circle - as the first domestic comic academic journal, the first volume of the recently launched "comic research" with "Feng Zikai's art research" as the topic, gathered more than 10 Chinese and foreign research**, in the academic vision of the analysis of the heart of the "gods and stars in the sky, Art and Children in the World" is the "most artistic artist in modern China".
As the editor-in-chief of "Comic Studies", Tao Ye, a non-partisan person and a professor of Japanese comics and cultural creativity at Beijing No. 2 Foreign Chinese College (hereinafter referred to as "Second Foreign Studies"), recently gave an exclusive interview to China News, sharing the story behind the establishment of the journal and why university researchers have joined forces to inject "academic power" into "ACG" (the name of comics by netizens) and provide new nourishment for the current society.
The picture shows Tao Ye. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
The birth of the first academic journal of comics.
Science is analytical, art is understanding", "Science is to create rules, art is to explore value" ......In 1922, Feng Zikai discussed the differences between art and science in his article "The Principles of Art Education". At that time, this master of art would not have imagined that a century later, he would become the object of "analysis" in the field of humanities and social sciences, and Chinese and foreign scholars would "explore value" from his works and ideas, and provide nourishment for contemporary art and education.
In China, when it comes to comics, Feng Zikai is an unavoidable name. On February 20, in an interview with this reporter, Tao Ye said in an interview with this reporter that although the academic community has not yet reached a conclusion on the origin and definition of Chinese comics, since 1925, Shanghai "Literary Weekly" ** Feng Zikai's paintings, and Zheng Zhenduo, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, named the column "Zikai Comics", the art form of "comics" began to enter the field of vision of the Chinese people, and Feng Zikai is therefore regarded as "the pioneer of China's modern comics", which is beyond doubt.
2023 is the 125th anniversary of Feng Zikai's birth, and "Comic Studies", which was in preparation at that time, took Feng Zikai as the protagonist of the inaugural issue, and invited relevant researchers from many universities and comics industries. After a year of solicitation and double-blind review, the first volume of the first domestic comic academic journal "Comic Studies", which finally included 15 articles and a total of more than 200 pages, was published by the Capital Normal University Press, and met readers in the form of a beautifully bound "book".
Feng Zikai is not only a cartoonist, but also a calligrapher, educator, translator ......We have combed through several sections to present some of the latest research from different perspectives. Tao Ye opened the table of contents page of "Comics Research", "For example, the first article "Intimate Relationships in Feng Zikai's Comics from the Perspective of Attachment Theory", readers who are not psychology majors need to study it slowly; Professor Zhao Hong of Capital Normal University's "Analysis of Feng Zikai's Calligraphy Art Style and Its Precocious and Consistent Characteristics" is very professional, and frankly speaking, I struggled to read it. But even if it is difficult to understand, people can realize through these articles that the functions that comics assume in society are multifaceted. ”
The picture shows the first volume of "Comics Studies". (Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
Responsibility of the first "Manga Society".
There is a design ingenuity on the inner page of the first volume of "Comics Research": the page number in the lower right corner is painted with a page turning *** quickly turning the thick pages, and a "gentleman" villain with a mustache upturned up, holding a cane and wearing a top hat keeps changing his movements, which is very funny.
This comic villain is the logo of the Beijing Comics Society, the organizer of "Comics Research". Founded in 2021, the society is the first non-profit social organization in Beijing with the mission of comics research, education, international exchange and dissemination, and Tao Ye is the first president.
The Beijing Comics Society, which has been in operation for more than two years, has become a communication platform for many universities and social organizations at home and abroad, and the newly founded "Comics Research" has made these exchanges more concrete through specific communication channels.
After the publication of the first volume, Feng Yu, president of the Feng Zikai Research Association, contacted us and hoped to complete the full text**. Wong Tiny Chun, president of the Macau Comics Practitioners Association, hopes to strengthen exchanges. The descendants of the well-known cartoonist Zhang Leping also asked someone to buy a copy for him. Tao Ye said that after the publication of "Comic Research", it aroused enthusiastic responses, and some companies took the initiative to come to the door and expressed their willingness to provide financial support. But in order to ensure authority and justice, he rejected "capital" and preferred to "lose money and make money".
I now have a kind of 'conceit' - we represent the level of contemporary Chinese comic studies. It is our responsibility to maintain the highest level of quality in Comic Studies. Tao Ye said, "When we look back at the development of modern Chinese comics in ten years, 'Comic Studies' will definitely leave traces in it." ”
The picture shows the "A Review of Feng Zikai's Research in Japan" included in the first volume of "Manga Studies", which details the current research status of Feng Zikai in the Japanese academic circles. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
What was the "Comic Con" like in the 1980s?
Tao Ye and comics in the seventies and eighties of the last century, when he was in junior high school in Inner Mongolia, he submitted two comic works to the "Hohhot Evening News" and successfully published. Since then, his cartoons have appeared in the newspapers from time to time, and he has also been appreciated by Wang Fuyang, then director of the art photography department of the Beijing Evening News and a famous cartoonist.
In 1986, Tao Ye was admitted to the Japanese major of the Department of Asian and African Languages as a Second Foreign Language. At that time, the domestic comic industry was experiencing a wave of craze, and the comic group of the staff of the Beijing Working People's Cultural Palace held a "comic exhibition" every week - a circle of wire was pulled up on the spot, and there were many small clips on the wire, and comic lovers sandwiched their works on it, and everyone turned around to enjoy it and give each other opinions. Every Tuesday, Tao Ye rides a battered bicycle from school to the Cultural Palace on the east side of Tiananmen Square to participate in activities. There are also often well-known cartoonists who work for newspapers, such as Wang Fuyang of "Beijing Evening News" and He Wei of "Worker**", etc., who take down which painting they like and take it away. "Everyone is looking forward to their paintings being taken away, and they will be published in the newspaper in a week or two, and there will be 5 yuan or 10 yuan for the manuscript. ”
More than 30 years later, comics are still loved by young people, but the single comic that is favored by Tao Ye seems to have "retired from popularity". Will this art form of showing the current state of society, expressing personal opinions, and conveying social values with a few simple brushstrokes be eliminated by the times? Tao Ye's answer is no.
In his opinion, comics can add joy to people's lives, and can also serve as an effective warning. Especially in the current development of social networking, in terms of popular science communication, cultural inheritance, publicity and education, a single cartoon is still promising. In the field of cultural exchange, comics have become an excellent carrier for telling Chinese stories to the outside world by virtue of their natural advantages of transcending language barriers.
Japanese "How to cultivate talents"
We hope that more people will be aware of the social functions of comics, such as disseminating information and inheriting culture, and one of the core points is to have a correct understanding and evaluation of comics. To this end, Tao Ye brought comics to college classrooms, so that young people can understand comics and create comics, and achieve the purpose of expanding their thinking by mastering this visual art of "a picture is worth a thousand words".
In 1996, Tao Ye went to Japan to study and became the first doctor of manga in Japanese history. In 2019, he returned to his alma mater and presided over the establishment of the country's first "Japanese Comics Cultural Creativity" major. Under the craze of colleges and universities actively exploring the direction of the transformation of the "new liberal arts" discipline, the attempt of cultivation has achieved obvious results - in the past two years, the "Japanese comic cultural creativity" major has been very popular. The employment feedback of the first batch of graduates also makes him very optimistic about the prospects of the major.
In the classroom, Tao teaches students painting techniques and creative design. In addition, students are also required to take the Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Grading Examination (CCPT) and other art professional assessments. However, its goal is not to train "foreign language students" to become "art students", but to cultivate students' observation, critical thinking, induction, expression and other abilities through multi-dimensional training. Tao Ye believes that "being a creative person will make you more comfortable in many fields." (ENDS).
Written by Cheng Xiaolu.
*: China News.