Looking for manhua and its literary counterpart

[skillphiliac]

Hello!

I was not quite sure whether I really should have put this question in this very sub-forum, but at least partially it should fit.

I am currently trying to focus on my upcoming seminar paper, and came up with a rather decent idea. I would like to put a (very light) novel, tale, or story at the side of its adaption as a manhua, read both of them (the original respectively), analyze them, compare them and ultimately, try and answer a question asked beforehand (currently, my mind is on something along the lines of "What (if at all) has been changed for the adaption the most, is the audience the same, etc., but of course, this depends on what I am going to read).

This being said, the problem comes into sight. As ridiculous as it may sound, I have no specific idea on which manhua, which story or whatever it is I want to call it, I am going to write about. I have spent a considerable amount of time already, but haven't found anything appropriate yet.

So, if someone could give me advice or an idea on what (more or less famous) book to read which fulfills some criteria (not too complex in both length and language, has a manhua counterpart, for example), I would be more than glad. I have approximately two months of time, so things like 西游记 would be practically impossible for me, considering my comparably low knowledge of the Chinese language.

Thank you for all your useful words.

[chrix]

Wow, this sounds great. I think this will be beyond the scope of your project (however, in Japan manga adaptions of anything are quite common, so I'm sure you should be able to find anyhting else though, though I'm not sure about Chinese editions), but I'd be extremely interested in a comparison of the various parts of Three Kingdoms:

- the original Records of the Three Kingdoms, 三國志, written by a contemporary, Chen Shou, later annotated in the 5th century by Pei Songzhi.

- the highly popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 三國演義, originally written by Luo Guanzhong during the Ming era, later considerably edited by Qing scholars Mao Lun and Mao Zonggang. The Maos' version is said to be leave out a lot of passages favourable to Cao Cao (and a lot of poetry too), so comparing these two versions alone would be worthwhile (and certainly people have done it before).

- there is a great Japanese Manga adaption of ROTK by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, called Sangokushi (三國志), largely faithful to the original, it goes on over 60 volumes!

- there's a very amusing webcomic that takes a lighter side of the things that happen in ROTK, published simultaneously in English and Chinese: san.pengguo.com It's not finished yet though. OTOH, this might make it an option for your project though, and it would be very interesting how to explain all these jokes alluding to what is told in the original.

There's tons of other manga adaptions apparently though, but these two are the only ones I know.

Edited May 31, 2009 at 12:22 AM by chrix

[skillphiliac]

Hey,

As a matter of fact, this is something I have looked at myself before. The problem most likely would be, that I wouldn't be able to read the original. I would have to rely on edited versions, or rather, rewritten ones. I know and daily recheck san.pengguo myself, so you see...

Well, to more clearly define the dimensions: the paper is supposed to be about 15 pages long, that is basically the maximum. For me to efficiently work in this time, the story should probably be no longer than a hundred pages, and, as mentioned, understandable or at least translatable by not-so-proficient-yet learners of Chinese.

And thank you a lot, chrix. If you can prove me wrong about 三国志 I would gladly hear your suggestions as this sounds enjoyable.

[chrix]

No, you're right it would be hard, but Romance of the Three Kingdoms has good translations as well, so if you're allowed to work with them you could use those that too. The comics are strictly speaking adaptions of Romance OTK (the novel differs in a lot of things from the records, because they incorporate legends that had become popular by the Yuan dynasty), so you wouldn't need to use the Records, which I'm told are pretty dry.

Or you could just concentrate on episodes from it, maybe certain famous episodes, the webcomic makes fun of (the love triangle story between Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu and Diao Chan comes to mind; maybe the story of Sun Jian finding the Imperial seal). You could choose a handful of key episodes and that way the Chinese version might be more manageable?

Also just the terminology: the original Records are called 三國志, the novel that is based on the Records, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is called 三國演義, but unfortunately the Japanese manga adaption of the latter is called 三國志 as well.

[skylee]

Perhaps you could do 木蘭辭 vs the Disney film "Mulan". 木蘭辭 is not a novel but a long poem telling the story of Hua Mulan. It is a very old poem but most educated Chinese have studied it and can recite it, i.e. very popular. And it is much simplier and shorter than the long novels.

The poem with English translation -> http://bride.livejournal.com/564808.html

Another English translation -> http://hk.geocities.com/freefreefeeling/mulan_eng.htm

The Disney film -> http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzk3MzMyNzY=.html

[renzhe]

There's also a Shaw Brothers' musical version "Lady General Hua Mulan", but I'm not sure how closely it resembles the sources skylee mentioned.

[skillphiliac]

Hey guys! Sorry for not replying in a while, I was preoccupied with... stuff.

So, all your ideas sound pretty neat, 三国志 and those adaptions of Mulan... still, I had a look at both and I got the impression, I will have to heavily rely on the English translation. What I mean is, it can get a bit difficult when it comes to analyzing the language, also, the movie adaption will be no piece of cake. So... I will specify what I am looking for more clearly, in order to prevent you from running around cluelessly, you know I deeply appreciate your help.

As said, my Chinese level is... if at all, decent, no more, that is for sure. My ambition allows me to read, and, if necessary, translate basically any text in contemporary Chinese, poems and older literature are, as you all know yourselves, a different matter altogether.

I have thought about (and if you think this is completely impossible or inappropriate for a seminar paper, then please let me know) analyzing both the manhua and the... let's say, short story, in their original languages respectively, obviously Chinese. It would be ideal if the story was something well known and read by young kids, or even older people, comparable to tales as we know them. It should not be to long (about 15 pages is how long the paper itself is going to be), there should be a manhua based on it, and... well, that is about it.

Of course, I tried looking myself, many times if I may say so. But somehow... I just won't find appropriate stuff to read. Two things I might add: It should work the other way around as well, a famous manhua and its counterpart, written after the comic. Also, if you know good or useful secondary literatur concerning this topic, I would more than gladly hear it.

Thanks for all your help -