Loading ...Thanks to my Chinese teacher, I’ve discovered 三毛 (Sān máo).
三毛 seems to be as famous in China as Tintin (丁丁) is in the rest of the world.
What a shame, I didn’t know him!!! 
Actually, 三毛 has the same qualities as Tintin: it’s a nice & smart youngster, helping everybody.
Only two differences:
- scenarii & drawing are big shits
- and 三毛 is just here to wash your brain…
Yep, because he is "so" cool & his adventures are so unfunny, that you just wanna do a thing: kick his ass and burn his book 
I get "三毛新生记 （张乐平连环漫画全集）" book, that can be translated by: "Sān máo’s new life (Zhāng lè píng’s cartoon complete work)", and it’s more than 250 pages. I’ve really tried to find something interesting or funny or some pics well drawn, but I didn’t find anything (ok, I’ve to admit that I didn’t read the whole book as it was too boring!…).
Maybe I’m just a 老外 and, therefore, I’m not able to understand such kind of art/culture…
Or maybe I’m too old for such king of comics… My parents should have given it to me to read when I was a kid
But for sure, 三毛 is one of the pieces of the complex puzzle whom is China.
Try to understand 三毛 adventures and which messages it wanna deliver, and then you’ll be a little bit closer to the People around you. 
This book is a compilation of all the 三毛 strips between 1956 and 1986, and as you can see it’s hard to see some change in 30 years!…
Vocabulary - 词汇:
三毛 = Sān máo = three hairs
丁丁 = dīng dīng = Tintin
一同 = yī tóng = together
不如 = bù rú = be not as good as
春秋 = chūnqiū = history
科学 = kēxué = science
张乐平 = Zhāng lè píng = Zhāng lè píng is the author of 三毛
漫画 = màn huà = cartoon, caricature
雷锋 = Léi Fēng = Léi Fēng (1940-1962), a model for youngsters during the Cultural Revolution.
Sources - 来源:
三毛新生记 （张乐平连环漫画全集）
Sān máo’s new life (Zhāng lè píng’s cartoon complete work)
If you want to buy it (6rmb): http://www.tushucheng.com/book/1243378.html
三毛 (Sān máo) on Wikipedia (censored in China)
Well I’d say there is certainly one thing interesting in this at least. As you say it yourself, it might be fun to try and sort out all the propaganda distillated into the strips… And maybe, maybe, it might be possible to find some self criticism as official "artists"sometimes do when they have to follow the rules but don’t want to abide to it…
Comment by diablotim — 2007-12-21 @ 6:29 pm
yep
as u should understood, I split on 三毛 but, in Europe, we have the same kind of shit on the TV!!!
Just have a look to the cartoons (often American) every morning that kids watch… The morality is sometimes disgusting… and it’s nowadays, in a "democracy"…
SOAD said it LoL:
It’s on the TV.
It’s on your TV.
Turn off your TV.
Can you say brainwashing?
Comment by atomicskate — 2007-12-21 @ 8:40 pm
Ni hao! Finally I got to read your article about "san mao".
I don’t agree with what you said "scenarii & drawing are big shits". Actually I quite like this kind of drawing. The painter can make a character alive with just several simple strokes. Can you do that? 
As for what you said "brain washing", what’s wrong to teach the people that we should be kind to others and help others? Nothing’s wrong at all! Especially in the society now in China,it seems people are getting colder than ever .
Comment by 椰奶 — 2008-03-04 @ 9:44 am
Hi椰奶!
mmm… first, let’s speak about the easiest thing:
- drawing:
As a big fan of cartoons, comics and mangas, and since these arts are quite developed abroad (I mean outside China), you can trust me that 张乐平 should have change job!
Cartoons are sometimes called "ninth art":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Belgian_comics
Unfortunately, San Mao doesn’t belong to this category because any 5 years old kid can draw better strips, and me as well hahaha
now:
- scenario:
Is there any??? I mean the longest story is maybe 6 strips long and either it’s not funny or it’s crap morality ending…
San Mao is just a translucent copy of 雷锋, which is nothing but a CCP instrument…
Have a look to Quick & Flupke, a cartoon from 1930-1940 period:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_and_Flupke
They are real kids (I mean sometimes they have bad manners), don’t try to bullshit you and don’t tell you what good things are: you’ve to think by yourself
last but not least:
- brain washing:
I think there is no link between teaching people do good things and the fact that nowadays people are getting colder than ever.
Do good things is called "ethic". It’s a personal way of thinking, not a mass-formatting way of thinking.
And today, people are more and more selfish coz more and more centered around money (especially in China). Globalization is responsible, but it was an unavoidable step for humanity I guess.
To come back to "brain washing", you should know that kids are more sensitive/fickleness than other people to what they read, watch, listen… As I said, San Mao is not the only one to try to stuff nauseated morality in fresh/empty brains: in Europe/RoW it’s the same…
Be a good kid, go to school, work and don’t forget to spend your money to company owned by your leaders. Be a good sheep.
Comment by atomicskate — 2008-03-07 @ 6:35 pm