A new graphic novel, You Must Take Part in Revolution, by Chinese-American journalist Melissa Chan and Chinese-Australian artist Badiucao, imagines a 2035 war between China and the US, and is aimed partly at young "Chinamaxxers" in the West who romanticise Chinese aesthetics and lifestyle online. Both creators have personally suffered for criticising China's government, and hope the book prompts young readers to think more seriously about authoritarianism rather than treat China as an ironic escapist fantasy.

The debut graphic novel follows characters from across the Chinese-speaking diaspora, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the US and Tibet, opening with the real 2019 Hong Kong protests against an extradition law, and it also depicts the US as a proto-fascist state to avoid one-sided messaging. Chan was expelled from China in 2012 after officials refused to renew her press credentials, while Badiucao was forced to reveal his previously anonymous identity in 2019 after Chinese authorities threatened his family. The pair, now based in Berlin and Melbourne respectively, met in Germany in the late 2010s and spent five years developing the project, which they say draws on Japanese rather than Western graphic novel influences such as Maus.