Emei Burell

Emei Burell is a cartoonist and illustrator from Sweden. Her work has also appeared in Adventure Time Comics, Hip Hop Family Tree, Studygroupcomics, and a number of publications in Sweden, Denmark, the UK and Chile. As part of Mao’s mandated Great Leap Forward, an entire generation’s most formative years in China took place in remote rural areas when city-kids were sent to become rusticated youth. In We Served the People (Archaia) cartoonist Emei Burell breathes new life into the stories her mother shared with her of growing up during mid-1960s Communist China. Her mother recounts how she ended up as one of the few truck-driving women during the Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside movement, which sought to increase agricultural outreach and spur social and ideological change amongst youth. Burell’s stunning illustrations honor her mother’s courage, strength, and determination during a decade of tremendous political upheaval, where millions of lives were lost, and introduces us to a young Burell in a new era of self-discovery.