Taiwanese cartoonist to get a museum in China

A Taiwanese cartoonist is being recognized for his work in China, an accolade that speaks volumes about both his popularity and changing attitudes toward social issues on the mainland.

Late last month, the city of Hangzhou in eastern China signed a contract with Chu Teh-yung to build a museum celebrating his accomplishments. The ultramodern structure, scheduled to open in 2010, would be the centerpiece of a sprawling animation complex that would include artist workshops and luxury hotels.

Chu’s often sharp depiction of family issues such as parental pressure on underachieving children and generational conflicts was a bit cutting edge for China when introduced a decade ago.

But no longer.

His six main comic books have been made into stage shows or TV series, and Chu has become a household name.

His success reflects two shifts: a narrowing social gap between the mainland and wealthier Taiwan as Chinese move up the economic ladder, and Beijing’s gradual easing of limits on cultural expression.

The 49-year-old cartoonist also steers clear of political themes. That’s somewhat unusual in Taiwan, which is known for its hotly contested, even divisive politics. But it’s a winning approach in mainland China, where the one-party, authoritarian government brooks little dissent.

Under the recently signed deal, the Hangzhou government is providing $38 million for the building’s construction and leaving the interior design and exhibition content to the cartoonist.

“The museum will be my concept,” Chu said. “They agreed not to interfere.”

That is a rare concession in tightly controlled China which, despite recent signs of liberalization, still works to ensure that cultural content reflects prevailing political beliefs.

Anything dealing with Taiwan is particularly sensitive. The island of 23 million people split from China 60 years ago amid civil war. China still regards it as a breakaway province that should come back under Chinese control -- by force, if necessary.

Despite the political differences, the two societies share a cultural background -- a major reason Chu’s comics resonate in China.

Beijing poet and publisher Shen Haopo says he supports the museum because Chu is “a master, a guidepost,” whose work is an exemplar of positive moral values.

Chu’s work was introduced on the mainland at a time when local cartoons typically served the propaganda interests of the ruling Communist Party.

His humor and sarcasm -- rare among mainland artists of the time -- soon won him widespread popularity.

Particularly enthusiastic was the new class of white-collar urban dwellers, who related to Chu’s depictions of parental pressure on children and clashes over arranged marriages versus love matches.

“They see in my cartoons their own stories, in my characters people who are struggling with the same family and marriage problems as they themselves are,” said Chu, who sports shoulder-length hair and is quick with a boyish smile.

His latest work, “The Absolute Kid,” focuses on children indulging in their rich fantasy lives as they come under increasing parental pressure.

In one apposite selection, a boy waits at a bus stop after repeated attempts to escape his elders on a flying blanket, a broom and feathered wings.

“Every child is an angel until he is dragged down from heaven by adults’ worries,” Chu laments.

Another popular work, the long-running “Uptown Singles,” portrays four avant-garde women and their earnest pursuit of love amid traditional expectations of gender subservience.

In one telling episode, the four fashionably dressed women hold their heads up high as they parade a man tied to a leash like a dog. In another, one of the women ejects a succession of suitors from her door and then observes tartly, “Whether we should love men or ourselves more remains a lingering question.”

Chu, who began his cartoon career in 1988 when Taiwan was just beginning its own tortuous transition from one-party dictatorship to freewheeling democracy, says politics play second fiddle in most people’s lives. Far more important, he says, are self-fulfillment and raising healthy children.

He says the museum, to be built next to picturesque West Lake, would present a wide array of his cartoons and sculptures, including a toilet shaped as a whale’s mouth, and a doorknob that looks like a person.