Yesterday, I gave a presentation on a controversial book released in Taiwan called Taiwan Discourse, by Yoshinori Kobayashi. The images I have scanned are from the Regenstein Library’s copy (DS799.K63125 2001).
I also brought to class a copy of Recollections on ‘Taiwan Discourse’ (DS799.8.F36 2005) and The Second Unexpected Turn of Events: Taiwan Discourse (PN6790.J33K67212 2001). These two works describe the heated protest movement and “storm” over Japanese militarist theories and comfort women.
Attached to this post is a PDF with an excerpt and my translation from Chinese to English of an interview that Yoshinori claims to have conducted with Hsu Wen-leng (Xu Wenlong). In one cartoon, women dressed in kimonos wait in line to register to enter into the Japanese army.
My hope is that my translation will help anyone interested in comparing the Chinese version with the Japanese. Also, the excerpt that I scanned, although highly controversial, is not on the internet anywhere, and this is a very hard book to find in the U.S.
Patrick’s Presentation on “Taiwan Discourse” in Chinese
Update: More information about the above protest can be found here.
There is also another Chinese cartoon book, with a different tone, about comfort women, a portion of which you can read online here. I’m sorry I didn’t get to this in class—this is actually a good Chinese cartoon book on the subject. The Chinese title is 《血泪“慰安妇”》 , or roughly translated, Comfort Women Bleeding Tears. Unfortunately, our library doesn’t have it and I can’t get my hands on it (for now).
Excerpt. (Warning: contains graphic images and language.)
It includes the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal.
Here’s a news article about the book:
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Cartoon on ‘comfort women’ published in China
Asian Political News, Sept 24, 2001
SHANGHAI, Sept. 18 Kyodo
A cartoon depicting the tragedy of Chinese and Korean women forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers was published Tuesday in China on the 70th anniversary of the Manchurian Incident, which was the start of Japan’s invasion of northeastern China.
The book, published by Guang Ming Daily, with a title roughly translated as ”Comfort Women bleeding tears,” was drawn by Yang Qiubao and six other cartoonists.
It is based on tales provided by Su Zhi Liang, professor at Shanghai Teachers’ University, who researches wartime sex slaves — known as ”comfort women” — and has interviewed victims.
The book targets particularly younger generations who did not experience the war, according to the publisher, which printed 20,000 copies for the initial print, each priced at 18 yuan (about 260 yen).
It is expected to be published in Taiwan and will be translated into Japanese, English and Korean, the publisher said.
