Xiong Dun
A young Chinese woman wearing a knit cap.
Xiong Dun, from a 2012 obituary.
Born
Xiang Yao

(1982-10-19)19 October 1982
Lishui, China
Died16 November 2012(2012-11-16) (aged 30)
NationalityChinese
Occupation(s)Cartoonist, memoirist

Xiong Dun (熊頓) (19 October 1982 — 16 November 2012) was the pen-name of Xiang Yao (項瑤), a Chinese cartoonist, who documented her own experience with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in her web comic Go to the Devil, Mr. Tumor. Her story was later adapted into a Chinese film, Go Away Mr. Tumor (Gun dan ba! Zhong liu jun) (2015).

Early life

Xiang Yao was from Lishui in Zhejiang province.[1]

Career

Xiang Yao worked as an illustrator for Beijing advertising company, while creating comics using the name Xiong Dun,[2] with titles like A Bachelorette's Diary, Superwoman on Diet, Stories in City,[3] and Maturing into Womanhood. She had six books of her cartoons published.[4] Her style was compared to that of Japanese cartoonist Naoko Takagi.[5]

Xiong Dun began to experience symptoms that were diagnosed as Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2011. She blamed her own long hours for her turn of health, saying "I hope my illness will sound alarm bells to those workaholics like me."[6] Despite the grim subject, the cartoon published in book form as Go to the Devil, Mr. Tumor (2013)[7] was upbeat in tone, with humorous illustrations and observations about her cancer and treatments.[1]

Personal life and legacy

Xiong Dun died in November 2012, aged 30. "Death is only a result," she assured her fans. "How you live is the most important."[8] A film based on her life and work, Go Away Mr. Tumor, directed by Han Yan and starring Bai Baihe and Daniel Wu, was released in China in 2015,[9] and was considered a box-office success.[10] Wang Yichuan described it as an example of the "sorrow from joy" theme common in recent Chinese films.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Lin Lin, "Chinese Cartoonists Gain Popularity" Women of China (5 March 2012).
  2. ↑ "Tale of Hope and Humor Ends in Sadness" Archived 2018-04-04 at the Wayback Machine CCTV.com (19 November 2012).
  3. ↑ 熊顿 女, 1982-2012. (2015). Da cheng xiao shi : Shou nu^ zu fang ri zhi. Xiong, Dun., 熊顿. (Di 1 ban ed.). Beijing: Beijing li gong da xue chu ban she you xian ze ren gong si. ISBN 978-7-5682-0894-9. OCLC 950447307.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Farewell, Xiang Yao" CRI English (2 January 2013).
  5. ↑ Xiao, Hui Faye (2019-11-22). Youth Economy, Crisis, and Reinvention in Twenty-First-Century China: Morning Sun in the Tiny Times. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-76534-2.
  6. ↑ Rebecca Lin, "China's Naoko Takagi Died of Cancer" Sino-US China News (20 November 2012).
  7. ↑ Xiong, Dun, 1982-2012; 熊顿, 1982-2012 (2012). Gun dan ba! Zhong liu jun : wo yu ai zheng dou zheng de yi nian li = Get away Mr. Tumour (Di 1 ban ed.). Beijing: 北京理工大学出版社. ISBN 978-7-5640-6752-6. OCLC 823496497.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ "Cancer-fighting Cartoonist's Story Touches Chinese Moviegoers" New China (19 August 2015).
  9. ↑ Maggie Lee, "Film Review: 'Go Away, Mr. Tumor'" Variety (19 September 2015).
  10. ↑ Beijing Film Academy Yearbook 2016. Intellect Books. 2017-08-15. ISBN 978-1-78320-825-8.
  11. ↑ Wang, Yichuan (2019-02-15). "Chinese Cinema: Sorrow from Joy". Beijing Film Academy Yearbook 2017. Intellect Books. ISBN 978-1-78320-932-3.
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