The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying a new way to woo younger people, commissioning an anime series whose hero is clean-shaven, slim and a hopeless romantic — Karl Marx.
Called The Leader, the online cartoon series is designed to make Marx more palatable to China’s younger generation, which usually encounters the bearded German philosopher through thick textbooks and classes.
“There is a lot of literary work about Karl Marx, but not as much in a format that young people can accept,” said Zhuo Sina (卓絲娜), one of the scriptwriters behind the online series. “We wanted to fill this gap. We hope more people can have a more positive understanding of and interest in Marx and his biography.”
Photo: AFP / Wawayu
Created by animation studio Wawayu, but backed by the CCP’s central propaganda department and the state-run Marxism Research and Construction Program Office, the release of The Leader comes as the party ramps up its push for ideological rigor — especially in classrooms and on university campuses.
With its Ferrari-driving elites cashing in on an economic boom that has revolutionized China since the economy was opened to market forces in 1978, Beijing’s allegiance to Marx might seem like an anomaly, but the CCP is still loyal to its ideological forefather, dismissing the apparent contradiction and framing its evolution through a prism of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Students start learning the theories of Marx in junior high school, and civil servants — even journalists in state-run media — have to take mandatory courses in Marxist theory to secure promotions.
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) also urged party members to cultivate the habit of reading Marxist classics, and regard it as a “way of life” and “spiritual pursuit.”
That also means that the scriptwriters of The Leader have had to compromise some aspects of storytelling for the sake of accuracy, Zhuo said.
“You can’t just write whatever,” she said, explaining that Marxism academics were involved in the whole process of scriptwriting.
She said the story of Marx should not pander to the demands of the entertainment industry, where there is “no way to make very careful and precise, or very accurate descriptions.”
After debuting at the end of January on Bilibili, a video streaming platform popular among young anime, comic and gaming fans in China, the online serial has been streamed more than 5 million times.
The Leader starts with Marx’s university years, where shots of the young philosopher — dressed in a dapper beige blazer — feverishly studying the work of G.F.W. Hegel are spliced between tender moments with Jenny von Westphalen, his wife.
However, the masses have been tough critics — on popular Chinese film and literature Web site Douban, users gave The Leader a two-star rating out of five.
Some criticized the storytelling as “awkward,” while others used more colorful language — one likened the experience of watching the series with “shoving” excrement in their mouth.
University of Amsterdam professor Jeroen de Kloet, who has researched Chinese youth culture and media, said that there was too much talking in the series and not enough scenes that “humanize” Marx.
“It’s the government lecturing young people on what Marxism is about,” De Kloet said.
Still, despite its propaganda bent, the TV series has opened a surprising space for discussion on Marxism and even labor rights in China.
Among the many comments scrolling across the screen as each episode plays — a popular feature in China known as “bullet” comments — some users commented on religious freedom and labor rights.
In one comment, a user wrote about the forced shutdown of a social media account that follows labor activism.
Others mentioned the Peking University Marxist Society, which has seen several attempts by local police and school authorities to silence and suppress the student-run group’s activities.
Last year, graduates from Peking University, namely those affiliated with the Jasic Solidarity Group, a labor rights movement in southern China, disappeared altogether.
“That’s why propaganda is interesting, because you can also read it against the grain,” De Kloet said.
With its wealthy businesspeople and capitalist culture, modern day China is in stark contrast with the cartoon, which advocates for workers and the proletariat, he said.
“You step out of your door in Beijing and you see a whole different reality... So there’s a tension there,” he said.
The Leader is not the CCP’s first attempt to make Marxism more mainstream.
Last year, like the cartoon, which was commissioned in commemoration of Marx’s 200th birthday, the central propaganda bureau released a TV talk show called Marx Got It Right, where theory experts, professors and university students discuss Marxism.
In January, Xinhua news agency lauded the success of a children’s version of Marx’s seminal work, Das Kapital — a 150-page illustrated book intended for children between eight and 14 years old.
While online ratings of The Leader are lackluster, it is a “first step on the way to the government figuring out messaging in a way that will actually appeal to young people,” said Christina Xu, who researches and writes about Chinese Internet culture.
The Marx anime is also “part of the push for soft power,” she added, noting the prominence of guo chuang, or domestically produced animations, on Bilibili, which also streams shows from state broadcaster China Central Television.
The makers of The Leader are not planning to stop at the cartoon series, either.
Zhuo said the team are planning to create a standalone animated film on Marx, though the release date has not yet been decided.
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