How did Shanghai show ‘love’ in the old days? Shanghainese writer Lynn Pan and Polish anthropologist and art historian Karolina Pawlik visually illustrated for the NYU Shanghai community how artists, graphic designers and cartoonists depicted romance and marriage in Shanghai’s 1920s and 1930s. Pan and Pawlik explored themes of tradition and modernity on November 17 by presenting Chinese graphic adoptions of Cupid (Eros), the heart shape, and depictions of Hollywood-esque kissing styles.
They showed the incorporation of the English word ‘love’ into Chinese texts and images, and how changing perceptions and vocabulary surrounding man-woman relationships paralleled typographical designs for ‘love’ and ‘romantic love’ described in Chinese characters.
The talk was moderated by Professor of Buddhist Cultures Francesca Tarocco.