“Lianhuanhua on the easel”: Framing Discourse on Chinese Comics

Lianhuanhua 连环画 (LHH) is a traditional Chinese form of comics, consisting of one image accompanied by one caption per page. Emerging from illustrated narratives of the early twentieth century, it gained prominence during the Maoist era as a major propaganda tool (Mittler 2012). In this essay, I reflect on the present-day official discourse on lianhuanhua (LHH), whereby “authority”, as both a concept and an operative force, emerges as a crucial element: The very definition of this medium has been consistently grounded in the presence and support of authoritative voices. Specifically, I examine how media—particularly art and art-related journals—as well as the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database that disseminates and reframes these materials, construct and reinforce narratives emphasizing the close relationship between art institutions and lianhuanhua. My analysis focuses in particular on the phenomenon of Jiashang lianhuanhua 架上连环画 (“lianhuanhua on the easel”)—a form ideally designed for both print circulation and museum exhibition. Drawing on van Dijk’s take on the “discursive reproduction of power” in newsmaking (2015), I approach this subject from the perspective of media and communication studies. While attending to the textual construction of official discourse on LHH, I also explore the broader media context in which this discourse is embedded. Positioned at the nexus of multiple forces, the analyzed corpus frames the exhibitions as agents responsible for defining the “new course” of an art object or praxis that, in turn, takes shape through this very act of definition.