Big Fish Comics 《大鱼漫画》
The “Big Fish Comic” 《大鱼漫画》 is a weekly web comic published by Phoenix Media that takes a wholly different approach to current events than most other outlets in Mainland China. Incorporating popular memes and clever witticisms, the Big Fish Comic is clearly targeted at a youthful, internet-savvy generation in Mainland China.
The Big Fish Comic is both entertaining and intriguing. On one hand, it’s really fun to look through the cartoons and see how other countries—including my own—are depicted in Mainland Chinese media. On the other hand, we can learn a lot by reading them. It’s fascinating to see how their stereotypes about other nationalities compare and contrast with our own. Furthermore, reading and understanding the discourse about international politics in another country can be invaluable for understanding our modern world.
I first came across this comic series not long after it started in 2016. I thought it would be fun to translate them as an exercise. Boy did I underestimate how difficult it would be! Firstly, translation is always easier than it sounds (I’ve been monolingual for my entire life). But secondly, this comic uses slang that even my Chinese informants can’t reliably identify if they’re over 30. Furthermore, even after a translation is done, the actual humor in the comic can be a formidable obstacle for western readers. I often see memes that I’ve seen on the Mainland Chinese internet before, but I don’t always know what they mean or what the joke is.
But in the end, I’ve always found it worthwhile. And, to the best of my knowledge, I’m translating material that has never been translated before. I’ve only seen one other person translate a Big Fish Comic on the internet: a Chinese UX designer named Jialin Feng, who worked on the comic herself in June 2016. She translated an early comic from January 2017, which you can find here. I must admit, the one translation she made is better than all the translations I made in 2017!