Year Hare Affair (Chinese: 那年那兔那些事(儿); lit. 'Those stories of that rabbit that happened in those years') is a Chinese webcomic and media franchise by Lin Chao (林超), initially under the pen name "逆光飞行" (Pinyin: Nìguāng Fēixíng, lit. "flight against the light"). The comic uses anthropomorphic animals as an allegory for nations and sovereign states to represent 20th and 21st century political, military, and diplomatic events.
Hares are herbivorous animals that are usually considered cute, docile and populous, as well as being "harmless to humans and animals alike" (Chinese: 人畜无害), but can still inflict nasty bites and kicks when irritated, representing the People's Republic of China's traditionally not so aggressive foreign policies, but can still pack a heavy punch when required. Another explanation for it is that the Chinese words for "comrade" and "rabbit/hare" sound very similar when pronounced with a Shanghainese accent, as famously coined by crosstalk comedian Jiang Kun during the 1980s.
The Hare normally prefers to act friendly and moe in front of others and is obsessed with working the fields harvesting carrots and earning "small money", but when provoked into fighting often wields a cleaver and a brick in each hand while emitting a hellish black aura, and later learns to "plant mushrooms" and build "water cabinets". When extremely enraged, the Hare dons a green dinosaursuit and becomes a Godzilla-like monster that breathes fire.
Based on the slur used by Hong Kong police against Anti-ELAB Protestors. Some big wig cockroaches such as HSBC executives have a yellow sticker on a front leg.
Bear is a common national personification for Russia and the USSR starting from the Russian Empire. The Soviet bear has a symbol — the hammer and sickle of Communism — on his stomach, which later becomes more like a character, "父", meaning "father" in Chinese.
To differentiate from Soviet Union, this bear has a character "大" ("big" in Chinese, or "eldest" when describing age order of siblings) on his stomach, meaning that he is the "eldest son" of the USSR. The hair refers to "毛子" ("hairy ones", referring to the comparatively higher body hair count in Caucasians), a common northern Chinese nickname for Russians (and all East Slavs by extension).
The crane is an important part of the Japanese culture, and the fact that the green pheasant is Japan's official national bird. However, they are mocked as a poussin in canon.
Bangzi is an ethnic slur by Chinese people towards Korean. To differentiate with North Korea, a US-style combat helmet is added to the appearance of South Korea.
Markhor is commonly seen in Pakistan and the national animal. In the animation the Markhor is called Ba Ba Yang ("Pak Goat") and sometimes nicknamed "Little Ba" by the Hare.[3]
White elephant is commonly seen in India as an important part of Hindu mythology. In the animation the author chooses it rather than the bull which is sacred in Hindu to represent India because bull has already been used to represent the UK.[citation needed]
Hippopotamus is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in Sub-Saharan Africa generally stereotyped as being simple-witted and clumsy.[5] Both in the comic and the animation, nearly all African countries mentioned are represented by hippopotamus, except for the Ugandan junta regime under Idi Amin. Also, "Colonel Ka the Hippo" sometimes symbolizes Muammar Gaddafi himself other than the country. Sudan and South Sudan only appear in the end of Episode 3, Season 2 of the animation.
"Uncle Crazy Duck" is, in fact, the nickname of Idi Amin Dada among Chinese netizens. He wears a hippopotamus fursuit with loose screws on the head, meaning that his brain is "different" from other Africans. In the animation, Uncle Crazy Duck shouts "Banana!" during speeches like the Minions.
Camel is commonly seen and used as transportation in the arid, desert Middle East and Central Asia. Both in the comic and the animation, nearly all mentioned Arabic countries are represented by camels, but they have different appearance — Afghan camel wears a scarf and is bearded; Saudi (and other Gulf nations by extension) camel wears a scarf and many diamonds; Iraqi camel under the Saddam Hussein regime wears a military beret; and Iranian camel during the Pahlavi dynasty has a crown on his head.
Lion is the symbol of ancient Iran and the Persian Empire. The religious reform of Ruhollah Khomeini made the shia-majority Iran quite different from its sunni Arabic neighbours, and so the author chooses the symbol of ancient Persia to represent it.
"Twiny snake" (Chinese: 麻蛇) is one of the author's online nickname, and comes in the form of a small green dragon with a pair of yellow antlers. The author is often violently beaten up by other characters for inappropriately awkward straight man talks, and frequently threatened by the Hare to be cooked into a pasty soup — a runningin-joke about the author's notoriety of often delaying the periodic updates of the comic series. The Chinese characters for "update" (更) and "paste" (羹) are homophones both pronouncing Gēng, causing the series' fans to create a parodic light poetry: "if the Snake doesn't update, make [him into] a snake paste (Chinese: 麻蛇不更麻蛇羹)."
Lin Chao's wife
Snail Fairy
Lin Chao's girlfriend (whom he married later) was often used as an excuse when he failed to update the comics on time, so an avatar is created as a recurrent cameo character who is a homemaker for the author, like in the Chinese legend of the Snail Fairy.
Director of the animated cartoon
Tree
"Two Tree" (Chinese: 二树) is the online username of the director/producer of the comics' animated series, so an avatar is created as a cameo character.
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A free-to-playstrategyrole-playing video game based on the webcomic, was released on iOS and Android on 15 July 2015. The player controls one of three factions: Hare, Bald Eagle and Bear.[6]
Reception
Critical response
Hare (Chinese: 我兔; lit. 'Our rabbit') is now used as Internet slang referring to China.[7]
Criticisms
The historical vision, provided in first two seasons of Year Hare Affair, came under heavy criticism in an overview on the Russian website South China Insight, especially Sino-Soviet relations. Though it is admitted that relations with Russia "occupy a leading place" in reflecting of Chinese history, but with a "complete disregard for historical facts", such as Soviet involvement in the Chinese Communist Party's foundation and the Red Army's liberation of Manchuria from Japanese forces. It was also noted that the Sino-Vietnamese War has been completely left behind.[8]
Oiwan Lam of Global Voices Online finds racism in portraying the African as a hippopotamus, which she considers "a lazy and stupid animal". In that regard, "China's aid for Africa has also been simplified as a last resort because 'the first world refused to play with us'".[9]
Ratings
The second and third season received 8.6 and 8.4 points out of 10 on Douban.[10]
References
^Lawrence, E.A. (1990). "Symbol of a Nation: The Bald Eagle in American Culture". The Journal of American Culture 13 (1): 63–69
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