The book, Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese History, by Susan Mann, contains a considerable body of literature centered around gender and sexuality from late imperial China to the twentieth century. Mann does a really good job of explaining the concepts behind gender and sexuality during these time periods and how much China has changed. The pictures helped to better depict what is being said throughout the book. Gender and Sexuality in Modern Chinese History was slightly more difficult to read than March (Book One), the other graphic novel, because Mann explains in such detail, but was still extremely interesting and you’re guaranteed to learn a lot just from reading one section of the book. Many people now believe that they learn better through photos, charts, and anything they can see to make content connect with them better. I believe the graphic novel I read, Gender and Sexuality in Modern China, was a great example of a hard topic for some to understand fully. This human rights novel was one that portrayed images to further help the readers’ comprehension and grasp of the content. I personally liked the images and I also think that it can be helpful to actually see what times were like or what someone looked like or wore instead of imagining everything. This way your brain can take more time understanding content then imagining what those things and people looked like.
—Mackenzie Fischer, CMRD101 Fall 2020