If it were not for Henan or Anyang, Henan, many teenagers may have gradually forgotten the concept of "HongqiQu" and the meaning and value it represents, and even rarely heard of it. But for a long time since the 1960s, the "Hongqi Canal" has been a spiritual symbol of China, and the spiritual power it contains or metaphorically inspires generations of Chinese strivers and builders of the Chinese dream.
The "Nine Sacred Deer" series of picture book works published by the China Children's Press and Publication Corporation, "Artificial Tianhe - China's Hongqi Canal", once again brings this great project that can stand in history and is shocking back to people's vision in the form of graphics and text; once again, the magnificent and extraordinary creative scene of the Hongqi Canal, which has become a AAAAA-level scenic spot in China, will be intuitively brought closer to the reader. This is a water canal of more than 1,500 kilometers that our ancestors painstakingly built in the mountains of Taihang Mountain, along the steep cliffs, in the dilemma of lack of clothing and food, primitive tools, and backward technology. The Chinese story behind this grand project, which is already difficult to describe with "miracles", is equally profound and great. It really happened, it really existed, and it is more real and more magnificent than the legendary Sisyphus, Yugong Moving Mountain, and Jingwei Reclamation!
Book: Artificial Tianhe - China's Red Flag Canal
The Chinese story is told in picture books by the German professional painter and picture book writer Quint Guosholitz and his wife, Picture book writer and painting educator Wan Yuxi. Through the simple text of this book, it can be read that the text of the work is probably from the wife's pen, because in this first-person narrative, it really contains a Chinese pride, and there is also the natural flow of home and country feelings when Chinese who live overseas tell the great story of China. Wan Yuxi graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and teaches professional courses at world-renowned art academies. The picture book is laid out with dots and surfaces, like a narration of a movie screen, simple but straight to the heart, soothing but extremely powerful.
Since the beginning of the new century, the world's picture book publishing has changed with each passing day. Born in the paris publishing industry, which was once the world art center, the picture book is known for its three-dimensional and hierarchical; the wind of picture books blown from Japan is based on agility and freshness; in recent years, the flourishing Chinese picture books have integrated the style of mixed brushwork and freehand writing, taking the road of artistic conception. And this picture book from the hands of Chinese and German painters, the style of painting is outstanding: up close, three-dimensional, rough and oil painting; from a distance, there is vivid, layered and heroic weather; close look, the innocence of the girl and the grand transformation of the meteorological mixture, harmonious symbiosis, quite tense. Frames of characters and historical scenes are arranged on the drawing paper in an orderly manner, and the sense of rhythm is extremely strong. In these more than twenty pictures, the excitement and nostalgia in the emotions of the narrator and the painter jump on the paper and are fascinating.
Stories need to be remembered, and spirits need to be passed on. I believe that "Artificial Tianhe - China's Red Flag Canal" will surely be loved by Chinese teenagers, as the first batch of Hongqi Canal spirit included in the spiritual genealogy of Chinese communists, it will also reach the depths of young people's hearts through the stories in this picture book, help them inherit the red gene, and achieve a strong country and me. At the same time, the Chinese story and chinese spirit are also the direct carriers of today's Chinese culture "going out". I learned from the editorial office that this is a work that was first intervened, actively invited and tracked by the China Children's Press and Publication Corporation, and it is another cooperation between the China Youth And Children's Press and Publications after the picture books "Mountain Flowing Water" and "Little E", and it is also a vivid case of telling Chinese stories from an international perspective. The Chinese edition of Artificial Tianhe - China's Hongqi Canal was the first to be launched, and it is conceivable that the German, English, French and other language versions of this book will be available worldwide. I'm looking forward to that. Because it is the historical mission of the Chinese publishing industry in the new era to spread Chinese culture and express Chinese concepts.
Whether in the past or today, Chinese stories like this have been playing out in this magical land. China's high-speed railway, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, South-to-North Water Diversion Project, Three Gorges Project, Qinghai-Tibet Railway... There are also builders who struggle in every corner of the cities and villages of shenzhou, and have always been in the spirit of the Hongqi Canal, creating the glory and dreams of our time, and shaping the spiritual symbols that can lead the value direction like the Hongqi Canal. We look forward to more picture book works, like this book, let us meet on paper, on the road to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, create value, share the glory.
Ma Xingmin, General Manager of China Children's Press and Publication Corporation Limited