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Manhua (Chinese: 漫畫; pinyin: màn huà) is the Chinese word for comic strips and comic books. Outside of Chinese-speaking areas, the word is usually used to refer to Chinese comic books. The Chinese characters for manhua are actually a variation of the characters used for Japanese manga and Korean manhwa.
Historically, because of the greater liberalization and higher standard of living, the majority of manhua has been published in Hong Kong and Taiwan rather than mainland China. As of 2004, the majority of manhua is still published in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
History
Chinese comics include "all the forms and styles of cartoons, comics, and lianhuantu (a traditional illustrated storybook)", according to Wendy Siuyi Wong, author of Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua (ISBN 1568982690).
"Chinese drawings similar to modern cartoons existed in ancient times and appear throughout the country's history. The oldest surviving examples are stone reliefs from the eleventh century B.C. and pottery from 5000 to 3000 B.C. Other examples include symbolic brush drawings from the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644), a satirical drawing titled Peacocks by the early Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1643-1911) artist Zhua Da, and a work called Ghosts' Farce Pictures from around 1771, by Luo Liang-feng. Chinese manhua was born in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, roughly during the years 1867 to 1927."
Wong classifies Hong Kong comics into four categories:
- Satirical and political manhua
- Comical manhua
- Action manhua
- Children's manhua (renditions of ancient Chinese legends)
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