The Middle Kingdom

The film Asterix &Obelix: The Middle Kingdom was released in 2023. In this illustrated album the story of the film is told in this illustrated album. The album was released in a dozen languages, on the right you see the cover of the Dutch album.

Did you know that Chinese don’t call their country China but Zhōngguó (Standard Chinese) and that this, when translated literally, means: middle or central state. For the ancient Chinese their country was placed in the centre of the earth and they were surrounded by either vazal states, enemies or barbarians. This might sound strange to us today, but when you look at how much the surrounding lands were under the influence of Chinese culture it is also understandable that they saw themselves as the centre of the world.

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix | Asterix versus Caesar | How Obelix fell into the Magic Potion when he was little | Asterix and the Big Fight | The Secret of the Magic Potion | Le Menhir d’Or | The Middle Kingdom