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May 15, 2008 - 5:54pm

An American cartoonist travels to China

By Rob Tornoe
Tags: politics, China, cartoonists, Daryl Cagle
Daryl Cagle, the owner and operator of the Cagle Cartoons, Inc. cartoon syndicate, is in China talking with students and cartoonists as part of a US State Department cultural exchange program.

Yesterday he met with university students and Chinese cartoonists, and had an informative Q & A about American political cartoons and how we view China: 

"The Chinese don't see American editorial cartoons in their newspapers, we don't see Chinese editorial cartoons in our newspapers and there is a wide cultural divide when it comes to journalism. The students seem to be amazed at the very idea that cartoonists would dare to be disrespectful of their government leaders." 

The most interesting part of the post is Cagle's realization how American cartoonists, and most Americans in general, seem to completely misunderstand and simplify life in China: 

"The students think that China is misunderstood around the world. They are proud of China, they are all personally very nice, and genuinely expect that the world should love China. At a couple of events students have asked me to list reasons why Americans would not like China; I give them a list of issues and they seem shocked. I think they are not shocked so much by the list of issues as by how this American cartoonist can so misunderstand China." 

But leave it to a political cartoonist to provide at least one well-placed dig at the Bush administration: 

"I'd like to have seen president Bush handle hurricane Katrina like the Chinese are handling the earthquake here." 

View the complete post here.
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