EVENTS

The Chinese animation film titled The Demon Child Nezha Creates Havoc in the Sea《哪吒之魔瞳闹海》, more popularly known as Nezha 2 has catapulted the legend of Nezha to a global status. However, in doing so, the narrative has largely shifted from the narrative of the first animation film released in 1979 by the Shanghai Film Studio, which was also based on the legend of Nezha creating havoc in the sea. By giving an account of the legend of Nezha and its evolution in China, the speaker will analyse the three cinematic adaptations of this legend—from the earliest in 1979 to the most recent in 2025. The analysis will delve into the socio-cultural and political context as well as the ideological messaging in and from China through the cinematic iconography of Nezha. The talk will also analyse the evolution of the iconography of “龙王” (Dragon King) and “龙族” (Dragon Clan) in these three films, and thereby analyse the reason behind the issue of the translation of the character “龙” (Dragon) and its politics.

Speaker

Madhurendra Jha is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chinese Studies, School of Languages, Doon University, Uttarakhand, India. His area of specialisation is Chinese language, literature and culture, with special focus on Chinese cinema and translation. As a recipient of the ICS-HYI fellowship, he was a visiting fellow at Peking University and Harvard University for the academic years 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively. He has also been involved with the India-China Translation Program and the SCO translation project, under which he has published Wang Shuo’s《看上去很美》 (Looks Beautiful) in Hindi as Dikhne Mein Khoobsurat and Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Ek Chadar Maili Si (Ordained by Fate) in Chinese as 《天意注定》. Additionally, another project, the Hindi translation of Wang Meng’s《青春万岁》 (Long Live Youth) is under publication. He has several research paper publications, presentations and talks at national and international levels to his credit.

Chair

Sabaree Mitra is a Professor at the Centre for Chinese and South East Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University and an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. She is also the Editor of the ICS quarterly journal, China Report, now in its 60th year of publication. Her teaching and research have spanned the fields of contemporary Chinese literature and criticism, Chinese cultural history, gender issues, India-China cultural relations and regional interaction. Her latest publication is an edited volume titled China’s May Fourth Movement: New Narratives and Perspectives, published by Routledge in 2023.

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