China News Service Kunming, February 7 Title: British illustrators have lived in China for 22 years and built a "Chinese character museum" with a brush
Author Luo Jie
"The unique folk culture of Dali, Yunnan Province, needs to be passed on by the younger generation, and China's Chinese character culture can be recorded in a more interesting and rich way." Jason Pym, a British illustrator who has lived in China for 22 years, said in an interview with China News Agency recently.
Jason Pym, a British illustrator who has lived in China for 22 years, was recently interviewed by China News Agency. Photo by Li Jiaxian, a reporter from China News Service
Growing up in Ashwell, a small village near Cambridge in England, Wan was influenced by his father to study Chinese at the University of Leeds in the UK. "My interest in China came from my father, whose home was full of ancient Chinese texts and calligraphy that he studied. At that time, Chinese was just hieroglyphs that were both mysterious and exotic to me. In 1993, Wan Zhesheng came to China for the first time because of his study abroad, and since then his indissoluble relationship with China has continued to this day.
In China, Wan Zhesheng's footprints span the east and west, he worked as a magazine editor and translator in Shanghai, and also went to Dulongjiang Township, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, China's only Dulong ethnic concentration, to experience ethnic characteristics. In 2005, he and his Chinese wife Wan ke came to dali, Yunnan, where they shared a common livable place, and began more than a decade of exploration and documentation.
The picture shows That on January 11, British illustrator Jason Pym introduced the illustration book "Dali Wai Biography" to a reporter from China News Agency. Photo by Li Jiaxian, a reporter from China News Service
"After living in Dali, I found that there is a lot of history, national culture and intangible cultural heritage that deserve to be recorded." "Four Thousand Years of Dali", "Bai Jia Ma Paper", "Bai Ben Lord"... Wan Zhesheng began to know this place from more than 200 ancient books and classics documenting Dali, and used illustrations to record every village he walked through and every story he interviewed.
"Painting is not a well-paid profession, but it's my longest hobby, the way I keep a diary." In 2017, Wan Zhesheng published his first illustrated book, Dali Wai biography, "This book records my bits and pieces in Dali, from historical legends, scenic spots, folk customs, to tourism strategies and daily life." ”
"Dali Wai Biography" gave Wan Zhesheng the motivation to continue his career as an illustrator. He said: "I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book has affected people of different ages, some children have learned about the different styles of Dali through my paintings, and at the same time, the locals who have lived in Dali for a lifetime have also seen their memories of their lives in this book." Under Wan Zhesheng's insistence on love, his illustrations have appeared in exhibitions in China, Britain and the United States.
Today, China's cultural exchanges with countries around the world are getting closer and closer. Wan Zhesheng told reporters, "In the UK, there were only 13 university professors Chinese in the 1990s, and now there are more than 100 schools with Chinese majors. As more and more people learn Chinese characters, he also completed the creation of his new book "Chinese Character Museum".
Wan Zhesheng said that the original intention of creating the "Chinese Character Museum" was to let his children learn Chinese characters in the process of edutainment. He wrote a "tiger" on the paper, "This year is the year of the tiger in China, and the word tiger with different side heads will have different meanings." Adding the word 'mouth' is the meaning of intimidation, and the three strokes of the word 'Biao' are like the markings on the tiger's body. ”
"The evolution of every Chinese character in this book is related to Chinese history or mythology." Wan Zhesheng hopes to record the story of Chinese characters in the form of illustrations, so that Chinese learners around the world can understand the breadth and depth behind it in this "Chinese character museum". (End)
Source: China News Network