''Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China'' is a comic book written by the Canadian Québécois author

Guy Delisle Guy Delisle (born January 19, 1966) is a Canadian cartoonist and animator, best known for his graphic novels about his travels, such as ''Shenzhen'' (2000), '' Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea'' (2003), ''Burma Chronicles'' (2007), and ''Jerusa ...

. It documents Delisle's three-month deployment in December 1997 to

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, a big city developed by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

near

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. In the city, he acts as the liaison between

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis was founded in 1922 by Jean Dupuis, and is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. It is ...

, a Belgian

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

production company and a Chinese studio, where Chinese animators draw child-oriented films (''

Papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

'') from the

layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of obje ...

phase taking the French

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

s as a guide. He struggles with boredom, the difficulties of

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

and the

culture shock Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration ...

of a Westerner in this profit-oriented Chinese city. The book has 145 pages. Some of the frames are drawn by Chinese artists and by a friend of Delisle's.

Plot

Delisle had already been to China in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. He is deployed to

as part of an outsourcing project, where he will spend three months in the Great Wall Hotel. Unlike in Hong Kong, there are not many bilingual Chinese so he has language problems during his stay, including with the interpreters at work. Often he has to recourse to drawing or pointing to communicate. Among his experiences of life in Shenzhen include a visit to a Chinese dentist to cure a toothache, but after seeing the unhygienic conditions of the clinic, he is relieved to find out it is just a case of mesialization. Since the main leisure activity in Shenzhen is shopping, Delisle tries to read books, works for

L'Association L'Association is a French publishing house located in Paris which publishes comic books. It was founded in May 1990 by Jean-Christophe Menu, Lewis Trondheim, David B., Mattt Konture, Patrice Killoffer, Stanislas, and Mokeït. L'Association i ...

's ''

Lapin Lapin (masculi) or Lapina (feminine) is a Russian patronymic surname russian: Лапин. Notable people with the surname include: Lapin * Aleksandr Lapin (general) (born 1964) Russian general * Chay Lapin (born 1987), American water polo goalke ...

'' magazine, and buys Chinese artbooks (drawings by children, Wang Chi Yun, Hu Buo Zhong). He realizes that the '' Spirou'' that he liked as a child is no longer funny. An allegory he applies to the Chinese

rural exodus Rural flight (or rural exodus) is the migratory pattern of peoples from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective. In industrializing economies like Britain in the eighteenth century or East Asia in the ...

is the ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'', with the Chinese countryside as the ''

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * Inferno (1973 fi ...

''; the USA as the '' Paradiso''; and the big Chinese cities, Shenzhen and Hong Kong as intermediate rings. He finds a copy of ''

Théodore Poussin ''Théodore Poussin'' is a Franco-Belgian comics book series created by the French writer Frank Le Gall Frank Le Gall (born 23 September 1959 in Rouen), is a French author of comics. He was first published as a comic author at the age of 16 in ...

''. His Chinese-speaking acquaintances bring him to try

Chinese food Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ...

. He finds

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

and Hong Kong more interesting than Shenzhen. The only tourist attraction he visits in the new city is the

Window of the World Window of the World () is a theme park located in the western part of the city of Shenzhen in the People's Republic of China. It has about 130 reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world squeezed into 48 hectares ...

, since his Chinese friends are not interested in

Splendid China Splendid China Folk Village (Chinese: 锦绣中华民俗村, pinyin: Jǐnxiù Zhōnghuá Mínsú Cūn) is a theme park including two areas (Splendid China Miniature Park & China Folk Culture Village) located in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, ...

. He spends a Christmas dinner with a Chinese animator who, while a fan of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

, has only a black-and-white photo of ''

Bathsheba at Her Bath Bathsheba ( or ; he, בַּת־שֶׁבַע, ''Baṯ-šeḇaʿ'', Bat-Sheva or Batsheva, "daughter of Sheba" or "daughter of the oath") was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, according to the Hebrew Bible. She was the mother of ...

''. There is less political commentary than in his later ''

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

'' comic.

External links

Intervalles Shenzhen Pyongyang
exposition on Delisle's work for French-speaking audiences, scenography by Bekir Aysan. Autobiographical graphic novels 2000 graphic novels Drawn & Quarterly titles Comics set in China Comics set in the 1990s Comics by Guy Delisle Books about Shenzhen {{2000s-autobio-novel-stub

Plot

See also

External links