Flies and other signs of rot: Surrealism and social critique in Manhua Shenghuo and Manhua he Shenghuo

Accused of being self-centred or disconnected from the needs of the nation or society, surrealism as a movement was given short shrift by some of the more Left-leaning members of the Chinese art world during the Republican era. Rather than Wei rensheng er yishu (‘Art for life’s sake’), surrealist artists (and modern oil painting in China generally at this time) were associated with the philosophy of Wei yishu er yishu (‘Art for art’s sake’) by politically engaged commentators and roundly criticized. However, this article demonstrates that surrealist themes and images in the work of artists Cai Ruohong (1910–2002) and Bide (likely Huang Shiying, n.d.) were in fact found in the pages of Manhua Shenghuo (Cartoon Life) and the magazine that continued its mandate, Manhua he Shenghuo (Cartoons and Life), and were effective vehicles for the dissemination of pointed Leftist social critique.