Political Cartoon - China

A year ago I was taking a class on 'History of East Asian Civilizations,' and one day we took a look at a collection of political cartoons drawn by seventh-graders, of which each depicted China as having "Failed" and Japan at having "Succeeded" in regards to meeting the West and being Westernized. I thought this was quite simplistic, and started thinking about how all China and Japan had done was react in different ways... as if China was an Earthbender, and Japan a Waterbender.

That's how this cartoon came to be.

In this (in case it's not clear) China, here represented by Ci Xi (Orchid) is so shocked by the West that she starts falling, and only her Earthbending saves her. So she puts up even more walls of Earth to protect herself from falling even further.

See companion piece (Sakura, or Japan) [[link]] here.