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In The Blue Lotus, Tintin talks to Chang about various 'silly' stereotypes held by Westerners.

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The story is pretty thoughtful in its representation of Asians.

But in earlier adventures, Herge drew his Asians very differently, like here in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets:

enter image description here

And the original B&W version of Tintin in America has a scene where Snowy is afraid he'll be eaten by some Asian clouts. I've seen that frame once and can find numerous references to it online, but I cannot for the life of me find an image of it online. But either way, Hergé himself once subscribed to those stereotypical notions that he ridicules in a later book.

What gives?

CDR
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    See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_in_the_Congo#Racism and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin#Controversy Some of the early works of Hergé are indeed quite objectionable by today's standards, while at the time, especially in his environment, it was just "normal"... Hergé learned from his errors, and later albums have a very different tone in that respect, while early editions were sometimes significantly altered in new editions, at least in terms of artwork. – jcaron Sep 18 '23 at 14:34
  • "The campaign against footbinding was successful in some regions; in one province, a 1929 survey showed that, whereas only 2.3% of girls born before 1910 had unbound feet, 95% of those born after were not bound." -"Foot binding", Wikipedia. Noting that the author was born in 1907, it's weird that they'd rank that particular misunderstanding (this is, being a bit out-of-date) along with more wild misconceptions such as broadly characterizing all Chinese people as "cruel". – Nat Sep 19 '23 at 03:49
  • Sorry, but this is bothering me -- so, just to explain a viewpoint... At first glance, the newer comic-strip looks to advocate against racism. However, it has a weird pattern -- where it makes some nebulous, subjective characterizations that're harder to fact-check (like calling Chinese people "cruel") along with other fact-checkable characterizations (such as foot-binding an infanticide). But the more fact-checkable characterizations were actually -- however horribly -- not so unfactual. Readers who realize that might see it as an argument for racism. Was that an accident? – Nat Sep 19 '23 at 04:45
  • @Nat Do you mean that readers who knew that the Chinese WERE actually practicing foot binding and infanticide were okay to be racist against the Chinese? Or are you asking if Hergé messaged his readers on purpose that racism to Chinese was okay because they practiced foot-binding? – GwenKillerby Sep 19 '23 at 07:29
  • @GwenKillerby: The second: I'm asking if the author was advocating for racism because their argument against it sounds sarcastic. – Nat Sep 19 '23 at 07:32
  • Seeing how he apparently made a Chinese friend, maybe he wasn't advocating for racism. But I kinda see what you mean that it sounds sarcastic. On another note, I really detest how people justify Hergés racism by saying: "he couldn't help it, he was born in 1907" and then they praise him for his "growth" Pfff! There were loads of non-racist people in 1907 too. And praising him is like praising someone for not stealing. Also, he changed his views only AFTER he made a Chinese friend, he didn't come to his new insights on his own... – GwenKillerby Sep 19 '23 at 07:53
  • I'm in no way supporting racist positions or stereotypes. I note for (possible) interest that Gladys Aylward, whose true story was used as the basis for the "Inn of the sixth happiness" movie, had the official task of combating residual footbinding in China in the 1930s. The Blue Lotus was publsihed in 1934-35. || Babies in rivers or equivalent may be closer to the sad truth, not only in China and not just 'back then'. || The Chinese queue/pigtail largely vanished almost instantly in 1912 with the fall of the Qing dynasty. || Crazy / racist people still exist in all our countries :-(. – Russell McMahon Sep 19 '23 at 11:30
  • Gladys Aylwards story - makes specific reference to her anti-foot-binding role. http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/73.html – Russell McMahon Sep 19 '23 at 11:38
  • @GwenKillerby When we don't acknowledge it as a positive development for a racist to realize that their racist views are wrong, then we actively discourage remaining racists from changing. – Philipp Sep 20 '23 at 14:16
  • You don't really need the second strip to contrast Tintin's apparent enlightenment to the lack of such in the strip itself. The final panel could illustrate that, itself. – Michael Richardson Sep 20 '23 at 17:04
  • @Philipp When we don't acknowledge it as a positive development for a wife beaters to realize that their wife beater ways are wrong, then we actively discourage remaining wife beater from changing.... Please, explain how that makes sense, or, how racism "isn't that bad" And I was talking about PRAISING him, which what often happens, not merely acknowledging that it's a not bad thing. These are different things. Degree matters. Also, did he ever apologize for his racism towards blacks? – GwenKillerby Sep 20 '23 at 18:00
  • Read up some about the author.. apparently he wouldn't have been very likable by today's standards -- having sympathized and collaborated with Nazis, made a living producing propaganda, cheating on his wife with a 14-year-old girl when he was 42 (later divorcing and marrying that girl), published some pretty racist stuff, etc.. That said, his work seems to lack the sort of depth I was suspicious of; rather, it looks like his emotions had the power to alter what he believed to be true, so when he made a Chinese friend, he decided that bad things about China were incorrect. – Nat Sep 20 '23 at 22:25
  • So. A real nice guy, it seems. Thanks for confirming that I was right to not waste time on him, reading about his life. – GwenKillerby Sep 28 '23 at 10:59

1 Answers1

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Hergé apparently met an art student called Chang Chong-Chen, the same name he gives to the man who saved Tintin in Blue Lotus.

Mark Tweedale at Multiversitycomics.com writes:

Why the change? Well, Hergé met a Chinese student of sculpture, Chang Chong-chen, and the two became friends.

Chang had a profound influence on “The Blue Lotus,” and in fact all the Chinese text in the book was written by Chang. If you can read Mandarin, there’s a whole other level to the book. Chang also taught Hergé about Chinese art, and the influence here is unmistakable.

And

Here Hergé isn’t just talking about ‘many Europeans’; he’s talking about himself, about the way he had thought a mere five years earlier, and it shows his budding sense of responsibility to his readers in the way he portrays the places and peoples Tintin visits.

Chang Chong-Chen poses with a cardboard cutout image of Tin tin. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/chang-chong-chen-poses-next-to-a-cutout-of-the-character-news-photo/607440530

Spagirl
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    That's great to see how Herge was able to learn and gain a more nuanced perspective on another culture, and even criticise his past self. I wish every racist such a transformation. – Rand al'Thor Sep 17 '23 at 19:50
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    He also did it very cleverly in showing how people of both races had stereotyped views of the other, based on a history of conflict; too often we see racist attitudes (how I hate the term) as something unique to white people. – Michael Kay Sep 18 '23 at 06:17
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    Adding to the other answer - Tintin in Africa (Tintin in Congo) became more and more of an embarrassment to Hergé, exacerbated by the lasting success of the album, which I believed remains the best-sold one. In particular, it remains a huge best-seller to this day in central Africa. – Deipatrous Sep 19 '23 at 06:20