Mort In China: About The Comic 

The comic series “Mort In China” is about China in foreigners’ eyes. More specifically the cultural differences between China and the West.  It was written by us and some of our Chinese friends. This is a joint effort to demystify Chinese culture to foreigners. Many research Chinese culture and read books about it prior to moving to China. But when suddenly faced with cultural differences in everyday life, expats may find it hard to recall what to do in a particular situation. 

The main protagonist Mort is a Grim Reaper from the US. He is the embodiment of expats who come to live in China but are ill-prepared to deal with the cultural differences between China and the West.

Mort In China is loosely based on the “China Stories” experience by ourselves and our friends. We used everyday situations we experienced to illustrate the peculiar challenges that Chinese culture poses to foreigners. Especially when one comes unprepared or lacks understanding about the cultural differences between China and the west.

Demystifying Cultural Differences Between China and The West to Foreigners

This comic series was written from a foreigner’s perspective of Chinese culture. Thanks to our Chinese friends’ help we managed to translate it to Chinese and adapt it to Chinese readers’ taste too. As a result, Mort has gained many Chinese fans and supporters.

The Chinese version of “Mort in China” is called “Mort小死神“.  It can be found on most of the big comic platforms in China, or simply by searching for it on Google or Baidu. If you happen to be a student of Chinese language and would like to get the Chinese version to help with your language studies, feel free to contact us.

Cultural Differences Between China and the West at Work

After 500 years of work and still only being considered 2nd best, a mild-mannered soul collection agent for an afterlife tourism agency named Mort has his world turned upside down when his boss sends him to root out and correct the efficiency issues in their China branch office.

Things take a turn on arrival as he quickly realizes that he is woefully unqualified to deal with the nuances and pitfalls of Chinese culture.  Will Mort succeed, or will his failure spell doom for all of China?

Final Destinations

The story takes place in China, an old and storied country.  While over 1 Billion people call this place their home, China can be a daunting experience; especially if you’re a foreigner.

Even mundane tasks can become complicated if one is unfamiliar with cultural differences between China and the West. Here it is important to be flexible. Unfortunately for Mort, he isn’t.         

Luckily for Mort, he has made several new friends that are there to help explain to him how to get by in China.  Even with their guidance, it will still be difficult for Mort to navigate the complex differences between Chinese and American culture. 

The China Branch Office Woes

The Final Destinations China Branch Office is responsible for gathering and in-processing the souls of China as they pass on and then ushering them on to their next destination.  The company offers numerous afterlife travel packages to destinations all across the spiritual realm.

Unfortunately, the China office has become woefully inefficient and are not meeting their expected quotas.  Failure of which could mean that China may have to be slated for a cataclysm.  In order to avoid this, the Final Destinations CEO, Naomi has sent her second-best agent, Mort to China to fix the situation.

Upon arrival, Mort finds that the office suffers from inept management, favoritism, excessive red tape, malingering, and many other problems.  Before Mort is able to resolve any of these issues however, he’ll have to learn how to navigate Chinese culture!

  The Cast: Chinese Mythology Gods In a Modern Setting

                                     Mort

Mort is a Reaper (死神). He was based in the United States until he was transferred to China in order to fix the efficiency problems plaguing that office branch. 

 Mort loves his job and is very good at it.  He even holds the second place trophy for his office (The reaper that holds first place is much more ruthless).  Despite having a job that many people are uncomfortable with, Mort does what he can to always look on the bright side of any situation. 

 He delights in efficiency and takes his job very seriously.  Mort likes it when everything is neat, tidy, and in its place. He doesn’t cope well when it isn’t. In his spare time, Mort enjoys peaceful and quiet hobbies such as raising flowers.  Unfortunately, China is hardly ever peaceful or quiet.

Bella

Bella is a Fox Fairy (狐狸精) that works at the front desk of Mort’s office. Bella is a whirlwind of energy that will talk non-stop if you let her.  Also, any conversation with her tends to trail off into several directions at once.

She might start by talking about business, but it won’t be long before she begins to talk about things that have no relation to the original subject. Such as aliens, artistic welding, her action figure collection, her last frog hunting trip, or a piece of tofu she saw yesterday that kind of reminded her of Lu Xun (famous Chinese poet). Bella is incredibly smart, but not very wise. Because of this, sometimes her “help” can be more troublesome than no help at all!

Yan Wang 

Yan Wang is the China Branch Manager for the Final Destinations Afterlife Agency and Mort’s current boss. As a manager, Yan Wang is more concerned about how people perceive him and what he can get out of his business, than how his business or employees are doing.  He surrounds himself with lavish things and loves to receive gifts.  Yan Wang’s management style worries Mort and he suspects that it may be the reason for the China office’s underperformance.

Chang LeLe

Chang Lele is the daughter of two wealthy Chinese executives. All her life she has been provided everything she could possibly want, but never the thing she really wanted: the freedom to make her own decisions.  Lele’s parents have controlled her life direction ever since she was born.  She was told what hobbies to take up, what to study, where to go to college, what major to take. After she graduated from college, she was made to work at her father’s company. As a result, Lele goes through life on auto-pilot, following the demands of her parents with no concern for her life or her own happiness.  Now that she has a steady job, she has started to receive pressure from her parents to get married.

Zao 

Zao Shen, or just “Zao”, is Mort’s flatmate in China.  Mort wasn’t expecting to have a roommate, he just kind of came with the apartment. That’s because Zao Shen was the ‘kitchen god’ assigned to the family that used to live in the apartment.  When the family decided to move, they left him behind, and he has been living in the apartment ever since.  Zao is incredibly lazy and very, very messy.  Since his family left, he has had no job and no purpose.  Mort thinks he is lazy, but Zao Shen will argue that he is the master of the Daoist concept of ‘Wu Wei’  (无为).

Black & White

Black and White are the Top Reapers in the China Office.  It’s not that they’re actually good at their job, it’s just that they have the best relationship with their boss, Yan Wang.  In fact, they frequently neglect their duties in order to go out for dinner or KTV.  Even still, they are very wary of anyone that might threaten their positions at work. The two are never far apart from one another. Of the two, Black is definitely the more intelligent. He does much of the talking, and always seems to have a nasty plan or trick up his sleeve. White isn’t all that smart, but he can be just as mean as black.  He is simple-minded and usually willing to go along with Black’s plans.

Biancheng Wang

Biancheng Wang is the accountant at the Final Destinations China office. Like many bureaucrats, Biancheng Wang is obsessed with paperwork. This includes making sure that everyone else in the office fills out his large stacks of paperwork, stamps them properly, and signs them in triplicate before he can file them away. Biancheng Wang’s obsession with rules and procedure have not made him very popular in the office. Because of his small stature, many of his co-workers refer to him as “Da Bian” (That means poo!).

Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui officially handles security at the Final Destinations Travel Agency. He unofficially drives Yan Wang around town, files paperwork, handles office repairs, and stays in the background making sure the company doesn’t fall apart.  Despite his intimidating exterior and reputation as a fierce monster hunter, Zhong Kui has a special place in his heart for all things cute, soft and delicate

Watch the Animatic:

Mort Discovers the Perils of Celebrating the Spring Festival in China

What do you think about cultural differences between China and the West?