Three manga exhibitions in China celebrate the art of the panel

October has become a well-rounded month for manga in China. Three exhibitions opened their doors within days of each other, and all three have something in common: taking panel art out of museums and planting it right where people pass by.

The first to open was the 16th Tongxiang Comics Exhibition, inaugurated on October 14 in the old town of Puyuan. There are no museum walls or academic distance here: the village visitor center was transformed into an exhibition hall and the 197 selected works hang where tourists come and go.

A woman looks at artworks displayed at an event.m.sohu.com

The show received 3,680 proposals from across the country and, after review by the China Artists Association, 197 pieces remained, addressing topics such as daily life, education, technology, and social governance. These are comics that start from observing what happens on the street and return that gaze to whoever stops in front of them.

And it's not just about looking. At the entrance there are caricaturists making portraits on the spot, children painting cloth bags, a sand art performance, and even sugar figures inspired by the drawings. The idea is clear: manga should be touched, tried, and lived, not contemplated from a distance.

A biennial celebrating more than 20 years

A day earlier, on October 13, the 12th Jiaxing Comics Biennial kicked off at the Jiaxing Art Museum (west wing). This event was born in 2003 and is already one of the strongest brands in original Chinese comics. This edition features 94 selected works, organized around two axes: heritage and innovation, and Jiaxing's identity as the birthplace of the red boat.

A group of people looks at works at a comics-related exhibition.m.sohu.com

The biennial will be open and free until December 15, and afterward it will travel through different cultural spaces in the region. It's a format we love: taking the exhibition to the neighborhoods instead of waiting for the public to go to the central museum.

Among the pieces, The Ten Flavors of Jiaxing stands out, a series that starts from local products to tell the city through drawing. Its author, Xiao Wenjin, shared the creative process during the opening, and you can tell there's an effort to ground comics in what's local, in what's eaten, walked, and recognized.

Portraits that cross borders

The third event is the 3rd Shengzhou International Comics Portrait Salon, which opened on October 12 at the city's Cultural Creation Center. Artists from 39 countries participated and 2,500 works were received, of which nearly 200 were selected, with 30 excellence awards. This year's motto, "let the world know Shengzhou and let Shengzhou go out into the world," sums up the spirit of the event well.

A group of people posing at an event related to comics exhibitions.m.sohu.com

This exhibition will be available until November 8 and it's the fifth time Shengzhou has hosted a national caricature portrait gathering, plus the second international edition it organized before. The city has already become a meeting point for those dedicated to this very particular genre, where a person's face becomes the playing field of humor.

What unites the three shows is the same idea: comics are not just a collectible object or an art for initiates. They're a tool for looking at the world, laughing at it, and understanding ourselves a little better. And when taken to the streets, they work even better.