The Situation in the Far East

A century-old geopolitical cartoon is updated for today

date: 2022-10-06 | source: andrewcusack.com

Tse Tsan-tai — or 謝纘泰 if you fancy — was by any standard a remarkable man. Born in New South Wales, this Chinese-Australian Christian was a colonial bureaucrat, nationalist revolutionary, constitutional monarchist, pioneer of airship theory, and co-founded the South China Morning Post — still one of the most prominent newspapers in the Orient. Tse’s most important visual contribution was a widely distributed political cartoon usually known in English as ‘The Situation in the Far East’ or in Chinese as the ‘Picture of Current Times’ (below). Crafted as a propaganda measure to warn his fellow Chinese of the designs of foreign powers, the cartoon depicts the perils facing the Middle Kingdom. Japan, with its expanding navy, proclaims it will watch the seas with its ally, Great Britain. The Russian bear looms from Siberia, crossing the border into China. A British lion sprawls over the land, its tail tied up by the “German Sausage Ambitions” at Tsingtao. The French frog guards Indochina while the American eagle lurks from the Philippines. Meanwhile, the Chinese figures show sleeping bureaucrats and carousing intelligentsia unresponsive to the external threats. Now the exiled Hong Kong artist Ah To (阿塗) has updated ‘Situation’ to reflect the realities of 2022. The Chinese bear looking like Winnie the Pooh is a reference to Communist leader Xi Jinping who is alleged to bear a resemblance to the little ursine favourite. Chinese Communist officials have banned mentions of Pooh Bear from social media accordingly. Russia and the People’s Republic continue in their nervous and awkward friendship despite being strategic rivals. Russia has a nuclear button ready and conscripted soldiers lashed to a tank. The People’s Republic keeps Macau and Hong Kong caged while it tries to claim the entirety of the South China Sea, challenged by the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. The British lion slaps sanctions, in alliance with the Australian kangaroo (ready to box), the Canadian beaver, the New Zealand kiwi bird, and the nations of Europe. And looming over the situation is the American eagle — one talon in the Philippines, one wing on Taiwan and another in Japan (who is sharpening its samurai sword).