Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China

2000 graphic novel by Guy Delisle

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Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China

Cover of the English-language edition

Author| Guy Delisle
Cover artist| Guy Delisle
Language| French, English
Genre| Graphic novel, Memoir
Published| 2000 (Drawn & Quarterly)
Media type| Print (hardcover, paperback)
ISBN| 0-224-07991-3

Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China is a comic book written by the Canadian Québécois author Guy Delisle. It documents Delisle's three-month deployment in December 1997 to Shenzhen, a big city developed by the People's Republic of China near Hong Kong. In the city, he acts as the liaison between Dupuis, a Belgian animation production company and a Chinese studio, where Chinese animators draw child-oriented films (Papyrus) from the layout phase taking the French storyboards as a guide.

He struggles with boredom, the difficulties of outsourcing and the culture shock of a Westerner in this profit-oriented Chinese city. The book has 145 pages. Some of the frames are drawn by Chinese artists and by a friend of Delisle's.

## Plot[edit]

Delisle had already been to China in Nanjing. He is deployed to Shenzhen as part of an outsourcing project, where he will spend three months in the Great Wall Hotel. Unlike in Hong Kong, there are not many bilingual Chinese so he has language problems during his stay, including with the interpreters at work. Often he has to recourse to drawing or pointing to communicate. Among his experiences of life in Shenzhen include a visit to a Chinese dentist to cure a toothache, but after seeing the unhygienic conditions of the clinic, he is relieved to find out it is just a case of mesialization.

Since the main leisure activity in Shenzhen is shopping, Delisle tries to read books, works for L'Association's Lapin magazine, and buys Chinese artbooks (drawings by children, Wang Chi Yun, Hu Buo Zhong). He realizes that the Spirou that he liked as a child is no longer funny. An allegory he applies to the Chinese rural exodus is the Divine Comedy, with the Chinese countryside as the Inferno; the USA as the Paradiso; and the big Chinese cities, Shenzhen and Hong Kong as intermediate rings. He finds a copy of Théodore Poussin.

His Chinese-speaking acquaintances bring him to try Chinese food.

He finds Guangzhou and Hong Kong more interesting than Shenzhen.

The only tourist attraction he visits in the new city is the Window of the World, since his Chinese friends are not interested in Splendid China. He spends a Christmas dinner with a Chinese animator who, while a fan of Rembrandt, has only a black-and-white photo of Bathsheba at Her Bath.

There is less political commentary than in his later Pyongyang comic.

## See also[edit]

* China portal
* Canada portal
* Comics portal

* Burma Chronicles
* Jerusalem
* Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

## External links[edit]

* Intervalles Shenzhen Pyongyang, exposition on Delisle's work for French-speaking audiences, scenography by Bekir Aysan.

* v
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Shenzhen

Administrative divisions|

* Luohu
* Futian
* Nanshan
* Qianhai
* Yantian
* Bao'an
* Longgang
* Dapeng
* Longhua
* Pingshan
* Guangming

* Defunct divisions
* Bao'an County

Notable visitor
attractions|

| Theme parks|

* Overseas Chinese Town
* China Folk Culture Village
* Window of the World
* Happy Valley
* Splendid China
* OCT East
* Minsk World (closed)

|

Commercial areas|

* Dongmen
* Huaqiangbei
* Shekou (Sea World)
* Coastal City
* OCT Bay
* COCO Park
* Yitian Holiday Plaza

Public buildings
and museums|

* Civic Center
* Convention and Exhibition Center
* Shenzhen Museum
* Shenzhen Cultural Center
* He Xiangning Art Museum
* Nantou Ancient City Museum

Historic
settlements|

* Shenzhen Market
* Dapeng Fortress
* Nantou
* Chiwan
* Chung Ying Street

Mountains
and beaches|

* Xichong
* Yangmeikeng
* Dameisha Beach
* Fenghuang Mountain
* Wutong Mountain
* Qiniangshan
* Nanshan

Public Parks|

* List of parks in Shenzhen

Education|

* Hong Kong Chinese
* Tianjin University–Georgia Tech
* Harbin Technology
* Peking HSBC
* Peking
* Information Technology
* Beijing Technology–Moscow State
* Poly
* Radio and TV
* Technology
* Shenzhen
* Southern Science and Technology
* Tsinghua

Transport|

* Bao'an Airport
* Shenzhen railway station
* Shenzhen North station
* Shenzhen East railway station
* Shenzhen West railway station
* Shenzhen Pingshan railway station
* Futian station
* Guangmingcheng railway station
* Pinghu railway station
* Shenzhen Metro
* List of stations
* Shenzhen Tram
* Shenzhen Bus
* Shekou Cruise Center
* Shekou Ferry Terminal (closed)
* Fuyong Ferry Terminal
* Port of Shenzhen (Container Port)

Ports of entry
connecting Hong Kong|

* Shenzhen Bay
* Luohu
* Futian
* Huanggang
* Wenjindu
* Shatoujiao
* Liantang

Notable businesses|

* BYD
* China Merchants Bank
* China Nepstar
* China Resources Beverage
* Coolpad Group
* DJI
* Huawei
* Konka
* Mindray
* OnePlus
* Ping An Insurance
* SF Express
* Shenzhen Capital Group
* Shenzhen HTI Group
* Skyworth
* Tencent
* Vanke
* Xunlei
* ZTE

Notable skyscrapers|

* Ping An Finance Centre
* KK100
* China Resources Headquarters
* Shun Hing Square
* SEG Plaza
* Hanking Center
* East Pacific Center
* One Shenzhen Bay
* Heung Kong Tower
* CFC Tower
* NEO Tower
* Shenzhen Special Zone Press Tower
* China Merchants Bank Tower
* Shenzhen Broadcasting Center Building
* Shenzhen Stock Exchange
* Guomao Building
* Bay Glory

Sports venues|

* Shenzhen
* Bao'an
* Shenzhen Bay
* Universiade

Major roads|

* Shennan
* Binhai
* Beihuan

Geography|

* List of lakes and reservoirs in Shenzhen
* List of islands in Shenzhen

Literature|

* Learning from Shenzhen
* Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China
* The Shenzhen Experiment
* Shenzheners

* Category
* Commons

* v
* t
* e

Drawn & Quarterly

Creators|

| English|

* Kate Beaton
* Chester Brown
* David Collier
* Julie Doucet
* Debbie Drechsler
* Kevin Huizenga
* Dylan Horrocks
* Jason Lutes
* Joe Matt
* Anders Nilsen
* Seth
* Adrian Tomine

|

Translations|

* Guy Delisle
* Dupuy and Berberian
* Seiichi Hayashi
* Tove Jansson/Lars Jansson
* Susumu Katsumata
* Shigeru Mizuki
* Rutu Modan
* Michel Rabagliati
* Yoshihiro Tatsumi
* Tadao Tsuge
* Kuniko Tsurita
* Murasaki Yamada

Reprints|

* Frank King
* John Stanley
* Doug Wright

Series|

* Atlas
* Berlin
* Dirty Plotte
* Ed the Happy Clown
* Louis Riel
* Optic Nerve
* Palooka-Ville
* Peepshow
* Sabrina
* Underwater
* Yummy Fur

Other|

Alternative comics

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