A Chinese Life
Li Kunwu is a Chinese comic artist, born in the poor Yunan area in the South West of the country. During his career, he has published over 30 comic books, mainly intended as propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party. He has worked with the French author Philippe Otié on his critically acclaimed comics memoir 'Une vie chinoise' ('A Chinese Life').
The comic chronicles Li's life as a young artist in China during the days of Mao, and deals with his family's suffering after the Great Leap Forward and his time with the People's Liberation Army. It was first published in France in three books by Kana in 2009 and 2010, and was later also published in German by Edition Moderne, in Dutch by Oog & Blik, and in English by Self Made Hero. Besides working as an artist, he focuses on ethnographic studies on the many cultural minorities in Yunan.
