The International Cousin Lee Cartoon Contest

"Cousin Lee," the cartoon character representing the Republic of China, after "eight years in the womb and three days of labor pains" by the U.S. political caricaturist Ranan R. Lurie, was "born" in Taipei on December 12, 1985, a little over a year ago.

To enable young Cousin Lee to be as active on the world stage as his 150-year-old relative, Uncle Sam, the English language newspaper China Post and the Central News Agency conducted a "Cousin Lee International Cartoon Competition" last September inviting cartoonists from around the world to draw their images of Cousin Lee.

By the December 31st cutoff date, some fifty entries had been received from fifteen nations, 39 of which had been published in their local newspapers or magazines.

Although the various "Cousin Lee's" differed according to each cartoonist's individual style, they generally retained the "almond eyes, strong chin, and kungfu outfit" of Lurie's creation. Through the figure's movements and expressions, each cartoonist revealed his or her conception of the Republic of China.

First place in the contest was won by the 27-year-old Spanish cartoonist Jose Julio Gomez Sanz. Gomez, who published a collection of cartoons when he was just fourteen years old and has long had an interest in Chinese culture, drew Cousin Lee riding a tiger leaping from a globe surrounded by a coiling dragon.

Noting that last year was the year of the tiger and that the dragon, in Chinese tradition, is an auspicious animal, Gomez said that he combined Cousin Lee with a tiger and a dragon to symbolize the achievements of the Republic of China over the past year. Cousin Lee's energetic attitude, he explained, expresses his view of the people of the Republic of China as "full of confidence and determination."

Political cartoons often get their point across more effectively than reams of print, and the division of the Chinese people under two political systems has naturally been a focus of cartoonists' attention.

In his cartoon, second-place winner jose Luis Salas Carmena depicted a vigorous and high-spirited Cousin Lee and "girl Cousin Lee" riding a bicycle and breezing past a worried-looking Teng Hsiao-p'ing stuck behind a wheelless dashboard.

The third-place winner was the Dutch cartoonist Fritz Behrendt. Now 62 years old, Behrendt suffered at the hands of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia during the Second World War, experiences which led him to devote his life to political caricature. His drawing showed Cousin Lee defiantly resisting a sinister dragon representing the Chinese Communists.

The ROC's economic growth and its renowned baseball teams were favorite themes with other foreign cartoonists. Local cartoonists generally focused on Taiwan's quality of life. One local cartoon, referring to the government's recent lifting of tariffs on imported liquor and cigarettes under pressure from the United States, showed Cousin Lee in a kungfu suit covered with foreign liquor and cigarette brands.

Twenty cartoons were selected in all. The first three foreign cartoonists won round-trip flights from Amsterdam to Taipei and a week's food and lodging on Taiwan. They said that most Europeans are unclear about the difference between Free China and the Chinese Communists and that with the greater understanding they will gain of our country here they hope to make Cousin Lee better known back in Europe.

Just a little over one year old, Cousin Lee has advanced his fame yet further, this contest giving him quite an international coloring. As Tsu Sung-chiu, president of the ROC Press Institute, put it in his address at the awards ceremony: "It was the American Ranan Lurie who gave the Chinese a cartoon figure, but the prize winners were all Europeans."

[Picture Caption]

Posing together at the awards ceremony were, from left to right, first-place winner Jose Julio Gomez Sanz, second-place winner Jose Luis Salas Carmena, Ranan R. Lurie, and third-place winner Fritz Behrendt.

Scrutinizing Cousin Lee's myriad transformations.

Gomez' Cousin Lee represented the ROC's achievements over the past year.

Local cartoonist Huang Mu-chun's Cousin Lee promoted traffic safety.

The Mexican cartoonist Alego Vazquez Lira expressed the brotherhood of Man in his cartoon.

Scrutinizing Cousin Lee's myriad transformations.

Gomez' Cousin Lee represented the ROC's achievements over the past year.

Local cartoonist Huang Mu-chun's Cousin Lee promoted traffic safety.

The Mexican cartoonist Alego Vazquez Lira expressed the brotherhood of Man in his cartoon.