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Liked It “Though virtually unknown by westerners, one of the longest running comic strips in the world is none other than China's own Sanmao, a young, derelict orphan living in the slums of Shanghai. Created by Zhang Leping in 1935 in response to the droves of homeless, parentless street children he saw...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Though virtually unknown by westerners, one of the longest running comic strips in the world is none other than China's own Sanmao, a young, derelict orphan living in the slums of Shanghai. Created by Zhang Leping in 1935 in response to the droves of homeless, parentless street children he saw drifting around China, San Mao (meaning "three strands of hair") the loveable loser quickly became an antihero for China's indigent underclass.
~China Photojournalist Tom Carter~ wrote this review Friday, July 11 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Not unlike a Chinese Charlie Brown (except that vagrant Sanmao is balding because of malnutrition, wears tattered garments he finds in the trash and has no friends), one might argue that Charles Schulz cribbed his likeably unlucky Peanuts character directly from the original soldier of misfortune - Sanmaoliulangji. Matter of fact, I'll take Sanmao over Chuck in a street fight any day!
Drawn without words (out of respect for China's majority of illiterate citizens), the humorously tragic "manhua" cartoon series follows the adorable, toothless street urchin's plight in search of table scraps, shelter and affection, to a heartbreaking backdrop of the Second Sino-Japanese War of Resistance (1937-1945).
Considering the P.R.C's ever-widening regional disparity and a seemingly permanent population of impoverished peasantry, the bittersweet misadventures of San Mao the Tramp remain as valid in today's so-called "New China" as they were last century.”
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