Қытай комикстері: Маңхуа тарихы мен дамуы

Chinese language comics produced in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan
Chinese comics

Manhua are Chinese language comics produced in Greater China. Chinese comics and narrated illustrations have existed in China throughout its history.

The word manhua was originally an 18th century term used in Chinese literati painting. It became popular in Japan as manga in the late 19th century. Feng Zikai reintroduced the word to Chinese, in the modern sense, with his 1925 series of political cartoons entitled Zikai Manhua in the Wenxue Zhoubao (Literature Weekly). The introduction of lithographic printing methods derived from the West was a critical step in expanding the art in the early 20th century. Beginning in the 1870s, satirical drawings appeared in newspapers and periodicals. By the 1920s palm sized picture books like Lianhuanhua were popular in Shanghai. They are considered the predecessor of modern day manhua. One of the first magazines of satirical cartoons came from the United Kingdom entitled The China Punch. The rise of Chinese immigration turned Hong Kong into the main manhua ready market, especially with the baby boom generation of children. The most influential manhua magazine for adults was the 1956 Cartoons World, which fueled the best selling Uncle Choi. The availability of Japanese and Taiwanese comics challenged the local industry, selling at a pirated bargain price of 10 cents. Several other manhua have also won the Silver and Bronze Awards at the International Manga Award. In the second half of the 2000s and early 2010s, various Chinese cartoonists began using social media to spread satirical strips and cartoons online. Print publishing, being strictly controlled in China, is slowly being traded in for microblogging websites such as Sina Weibo and Douban, where manhua can reach a wide audience while subject to less editorial control. Despite China being a major consumer of comics for decades, the medium has never been taken as "serious works of art". R. Martin of The Comics Journal describes the Chinese outlook on comics as "pulpy imitations of films". 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. Websites such as Douban (2005) and Sina Weibo (2009) are popular venues for web manhua and webcomics. In the second half of the 2010s, South Korean webtoons and webtoon platforms have become increasingly popular in China. In 2016, two manhua have been adapted into anime television series: Yi Ren Zhi Xia and Soul Buster. Another series, Bloodivores, based on a web manhua, will start airing on October 1, 2016. Another series, The Silver Guardian, is scheduled to premiere in 2017.

Before the official terminology was established, the art form was known by several names. These are due to differences in the style prescribed by the governments of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Digital manhua, known as web manhua, are a growing art form in China. Web manhua are posted on social media and web manhua portals, which serve as a lower bar of entry than the strictly controlled print publication outlets in the country. Though little money is currently made through online manhua in China, the medium has become popular due to ease of uploading and publishing titles, color publication, and free reading access. Some popular web manhua sites include QQ Comic and U17. In recent years, several Chinese web manhua have been adapted into animated series, with some in co production with the Japanese animation industry.

As microblogging and webcomics were gaining popularity in China, the form was increasingly used for political activism and satire. Despite China being a major consumer of comics for decades, the medium has never been taken as "serious works of art". R. Martin of The Comics Journal describes the Chinese outlook on comics as "pulpy imitations of films". 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. Websites such as Douban (2005) and Sina Weibo (2009) are popular venues for webcomics. Images censored from Sina Weibo include a portrait of Mao Zedong wearing a pollution mask, a photo compilation identifying the expensive watches on the wrists of supposedly low waged local officials, and criticism on police action, censorship in education, and the one child policy.

Webtoons have grown in popularity in China as another form to consume and produce manhua in the country thanks in part to the popularity of South Korean webtoons. Microblogging platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent have also offered webtoons on their digital manhua sites alongside web based manhua, several of which have been translated into various languages. While webtoon portals in mainland China are mainly run by big internet companies, webtoon portals in Taiwan are offered and operated by big webtoon publishers outside the country like Comico, and Naver (under the Line brand).

Political cartoonist Liu "Big Corpse Brother" Jun had over 130,000 followers on Sina Weibo in December 2013, and Kuang Biao has his work appear both online and in various print journals. based on Under One Person by Dong Man Tang and Bloodivores, based on a web manhua by Bai Xiao. A Chinese Japanese animated series based on Chōyū Sekai is scheduled to air in 2017. Another series, The Silver Guardian, based on The Silver Guardian, premiered in 2017. Chang Ge Xing, a live action adaptation of the manhua of the same name by Xia Da, began filming in 2019. Kakao, operating the Korean webtoon portal Daum Webtoon, has collaborated with the Chinese Huace Group in order to produce live action, Chinese language films and television dramas based on South Korean webtoons.