{"id":138017,"date":"2012-06-12T12:21:28","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T19:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=138017"},"modified":"2012-06-12T22:05:15","modified_gmt":"2012-06-13T05:05:15","slug":"little-rabbit-be-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2012\/06\/little-rabbit-be-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Rabbit Be Good"},"content":{"rendered":"
World Policy Journal profiles cartoonist Pi San<\/strong><\/a>, who has created numerous popular animations featuring a little boy, Kuang Kuang, including a satirical take on a children’s song, Little Rabbit Be Good<\/a>:<\/p>\n \nPi San\u2019s gift for subversive humor comes naturally. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lifetime of experience eluding censors,\u201d he says with a laugh. When Pi San was a young boy growing up in China\u2019s equivalent of Appalachia, his parents used to rap his knuckles with a ruler every time they found cartoons doodled onto his homework. The thumpings didn\u2019t have the desired effect. Pi San continued to draw despite the censure\u2014a pattern that endures today. He eventually turned his passion for cartoons into a career, founding an Internet animation company, Hutoon, in 2006.<\/p>\n Hutoon occupies the top floor of a defunct military electronics factory in \u201c798,\u201d a chic zone of art studios and galleries on the outskirts of Beijing. By day, Pi San and his staff produce music videos and Internet ads for Fortune 500 companies, along with a stylish animated Web series known as Ms. Puff. But by night\u2014or whenever Pi San is moved by what he calls \u201cthe absurdity of everyday events in China\u201d\u2014he creates more provocative animations, many of them revolving around the misadventures of his alter ego, an impish little boy named Kuang Kuang.<\/p>\n Pi San\u2019s first Kuang Kuang satire, in 2009, was an irreverent swipe at the education system called \u201cBlow Up the School.\u201d Using a childlike style reminiscent of \u201cSouth Park\u201d\u2014Kuang Kuang\u2019s circular head often transforms into a thought bubble\u2014the animation was an instant sensation among Chinese youth, generating three million hits on its first day online. Government officials forced Pi San to pay a small fine for \u201cinappropriate content,\u201d but they didn\u2019t seem to notice as more pointed Kuang Kuang animations appeared, spawning Pi San fan clubs on the Internet in nearly every Chinese province. \u201cThe government still tends to look at what I do as just cartoons, something funny for kids,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n His videos, however, have many layers of meanings. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n