General Information
Original edition is in Chinese. It's available here, but if you're reading this, you're probably more interested in the English. Both versions of each four-page installment are uploaded simultaneously once a week.
If you're looking for something serious, you've come to the wrong place. No magical warriors fighting to save the world from demon gods here. This isn't a schoolgirl sitcom either, there is plot, yes, there is! The story is somewhat a serious one, but that hasn't stopped me from putting in at least one attempt at a joke on every page. And super-deformed parodies.
The earlier pages may look rather crappy (particularly the unintentionally superdeformed characters!) but it gets much better with each new installment.
This comic is suitable for all ages. There is violence (but hardly any by most comic book standards) and a significant amounts of strong political ideas. There is no adult content, and most expletives are #$^@#'d out.
Characters
The Actual Comic
How this comic was drawn
Main Index Page (go here to go to the Chinese section)
Artwork
Golden City, extra large size (1200x1504)
Golden City, large size (600x752)
Cover for pages 81-120, large size
Cover for pages 0-40 (Chinese), small size
Cover for pages 0-40 (English), small size
Something really stupid
Summary
Quick Sound Byte: A society and its leader's journey through change and space.
Some More Detail: What do you think would happen to history if someone pressed the fast forward button? "May We Live in Interesting Times" takes you back a few hundred years to Ming Dynasty China, then floors the accelerator of technological, political, economic, social, and cultural change. Hang in there.
Back Cover Text: Things had been uneventful for a good many years, longer than anyone could remember. Then, one day, old philosopher Yang had a vision- this was unacceptable. All the missed oppotunities, the world that could have been... With the ambitious and egomanical Minister Kang providing the momentum, things began to happen. Installed by most illegitimate means, Empress Mei Jing lent the plan some legitimacy- and a lot of spice. Once the long-rusted wheels of progress started turning, though, heck, this thing wasn't just a perpetual motion machine, it flat out defies the laws of physics! It sure gets dizzy for them and the rest of the country...
Section Blurbs: You really ought to read the comic, but if I were to give you an exam tomorrow and it's "three strokes into midnight", these may be handy. The comic comes in weekly 4-page installments that are divided as such for matters of scheduling only.
C-0: Cover and Pointless Intro
1-4: The Past That Never Was
5-8: How to Seize Power in Just 7 Days, Guaranteed!
9-12: Trial by Trial of Trials
13-16: Brute Force
17-20: Industrialization: On Strike
21-24: Brute Force, Part II
25-28: Quick E-Z Recovery Plan
29-32: Fundamentals of Monarchy 101
33-36: Cannons at Point Blank
37-40: Make Love, Not War, Literally but in Good Taste
41-44: Brute Force Reconsidered and Reinstated
45-48: Brains, Not Brute Force
49-52: Turning the Wheel(s)
53-56: The Scientific Method
57-60: Meanwhile, Elsewhere in the Boondocks...
61-64: Not Quite For the History Books
65-68: Bad Vibes
69-72: New From the Ground Up
73-76: Escaping Reality
77-80: Mei Jing's Central Asian Vacation
81-84: Is there a Heaven, Literal or Figurative?
85-88: Three's a Couple
89-92: Is Love Man-Made or Woman-Made?
93-96: West meets East
97-100: Nothing Travels Faster than Bad News
101-104: It's about Education, Stupid!
105-108: Who Would Of Thunk?
109-112: Citizens Against Drunk Governing
Super Deformed: Around page 48 I started to go a little insane from staring at drawing board for long periods of time. So, as if the anatomy in the comic wasn't bad enough (and not bad bad, just poorly drawn bad), it gets worse when the head exceeded the size of the body. Not to mention the complete lack of seriousness in the content. These parodies come every four pages and have been inserted into previous four-page segments.
Outtakes: The comic Celestial Empire borrows its three main characters from May We Live in Interesting Times. They are Tzong, Shih Hwaron, and Shen Ding.
Another outtake is the daily comic strip Stupid Melon Dumb Egg, which borrows two main characters, Mei Jing and Shen Ding, for a modern day setting on politics and science. The comic features Sunday bilingual color extra large strips.
See the rest of Taiwanimation for more.