The history behind Manhua

Here we will show you a little, how Manhua came to be

By the 1920s palm-sized picture books like Lianhuanhua were popular in Shanghai. They are considered the predecessor of modern-day manhua.

Up until the establishment of the Shanghai Sketch Society in 1927, all prior works were Lianhuanhua or loose collections of materials.

The first successful manhua magazine, Shanghai Sketch (or Shanghai Manhua) appeared in 1928.

During the Anti-Japanese War, begun in 1937, many Chinese cartoonists, including Ye Qianyu, fled Shanghai and other major cities and waged "cartoon guerilla warfare" against the Japanese invaders by mounting roving cartoon exhibitions and publishing cartoon magazines in inland cities like Hankou.

The rise of Chinese immigration turned Hong Kong into the main manhua-ready market, especially with the baby boom generation of children.

Despite China being a major consumer of comics for decades, the medium has never been taken as "serious works of art".

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.

With an increasing prevalence of Chinese-language online comic platforms, young artists have more opportunities to publish their work and gain a reputation.