In the Chinese world, cartoonist Cai Zhizhong has always been a cultural symbol with a strong identity, he spreads oriental ideas to the world through comics, he is keen to think and act, and uses unique comic language to carry forward oriental wisdom.
On December 20th, Cai Zhizhong made his debut in Shenzhen, and gave a lecture on the theme of "Wisdom of Life" at Ruotong Gallery in Bao'an, Shenzhen, where he gave a lecture on the theme of "Wisdom of Life" at the Ruotong Gallery in Bao'an, Shenzhen. In this lecture, Cai Zhizhong not only shared his life wisdom, but also talked about the origin of his creation of comics, and the motivation why he has been drawing comics, and also revealed that when he went to Japan, he began to use the form of comics to show many details of the hundred schools of thought of the pre-Qin princes. He believes that comics will always remain, and comics still have their own room for growth today, have a strong vitality, and will not be replaced by videos.
Turn the knowledge of others into your own wisdom
Coming to Shenzhen from Beijing at minus 16 degrees Celsius, Cai Zhizhong wore a white shirt, a black jacket, very thin pants, and no socks. He said that he had never worn socks in his life, and since the age of 23, he has been wearing white shirts, cardigan pants, and the same cloth shoes, and has worn more than 20 pairs. He lived his life very simply, and he made his thoughts very complicated.
In Cai Zhizhong's view, all things in the universe have laws, and if there are laws, they will be prosperous. Therefore, whether it is thinking about problems or doing things, the important thing is to find rules.
He said that since he was a child, he planned not to take the ordinary road and to be different. Since the age of 3, I have gotten up at 3 o'clock in the morning every morning to think about what I want to do in my life and what I want to eat. When he was 4 years old, his father gave him a small blackboard, he wrote and painted on the small blackboard, and found that he loved to draw very much, and when he was 4 years old, he was determined to keep drawing, as long as he didn't starve to death, and it was difficult for him to starve to death, he could eat a steamed bun a day. To this day, he only eats Chinese food once a day, skipping breakfast for 52 years and skipping dinner for more than 20 years. "Because I feel like when my stomach is full, my brain is empty, and the best time for my brain is when I'm hungry, especially when I wake up in the morning. Cai Zhizhong said.
In recent years, he has gone to bed at 7 p.m. and wakes up before 11 p.m., just like the French writer Balzac, drinking coffee, taking notes, and thinking. There is a room of notebooks made, from the age of 15 to today, all the notes made, the words written, and the drawings drawn are preserved and classified into a complete archive. Plan yourself well to make yourself great. He said he was able to find what he was looking for in a second.
Reading more books is also something that Cai Zhizhong thinks is very important, and he estimates that he has read about 200,000 to 600,000 books, turning other people's knowledge into his own wisdom. Reading is not just about swallowing dates, it is about turning it into one's own thoughts, and it can be used by oneself.
Through comics, the ideas of the East were spread to the world
Cai Zhizhong feels that people's first choice is very important. Talking about his experience of drawing comics, he introduced that he became a cartoonist at the age of 15 and became the most famous cartoonist in Taiwan in the second year.
Cai Zhizhong said, "I can draw Zhuzi comics, not because of emergency, but because of intelligence." When I was 36 years old, the bank had NT$8.6 million and three of the best houses. Then I made up my mind to close the company. Life is not to exchange RMB, life is to complete oneself. Making money, for Cai Zhizhong, this life is enough. As long as I don't gamble, don't guarantee, and don't invest indiscriminately, I can have food until I am 80 years old. So we put an end to Dragon Cartoon Company, which was the most powerful advertising animation company at that time, whether it was Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Taiwan, more than 90% of it was done by us. After finishing the company, I went to Japan alone. The Japanese are xenophobic, the Japanese look down on the Americans, look down on the Taiwanese, and they may look down on the Germans and the British. But Japan is the kingdom of manga all over the world. Before I went to Japan, I had already published four-panel manga in Japanese newspapers and magazines. But I've always thought that four-panel comics are chicken, and I've always wanted to draw classics. In Japan, of course, it is impossible to be one of the greatest manga artists in Japan. So thinking about it backwards, I thought about it for a week, it is difficult to become the number one in Japan, but it is very simple to become the number one in the world, because content is the king, so I thought of drawing comics of oriental thought, comics of the pre-Qin Zhuzi hundred schools of thought. It is Taoism, Confucianism, and Zen Buddhism. Japan and South Korea have practiced Confucian culture for a long time. I used comics to draw the hundred schools of thought of the pre-Qin princes, and as soon as it was published, it became the number one continuous bestseller. No one uses comics to draw philosophical ideas, I was the first to use comics to draw others. I use comics as words, as means. With me comics is just a language, comics can do anything, I can draw comic algebra, comic geometry, comic physics, comic calculus, comic universe. The comic format will definitely be here to stay, and in 100, 1000, comics will not be replaced by video. Comics can be read repeatedly and slowly according to the reader's own reading Xi. ”
"At present, my books have been translated into 26 languages and published in 60 countries around the world, and more than 60 million copies have been sold. Princeton University is the number one university in the world, published my book in 1992, and became my global distributor five years ago. So what I do is very meaningful to spread the ideas of the East to the world through comics. ”
Thinking is the only thing that matters
At the speech, Cai Zhizhong also humorously shared the stories of entrepreneurs such as He Xiangjian, Yu Minhong, and Jobs. In his opinion, the most important thing in life is to think and plan yourself. These entrepreneurs can achieve their own achievements because they are very good at thinking, will look at problems from different perspectives, not to stand out in the red ocean, but to create their own blue ocean, to discover and open a different world. "The reason why I'm a best-selling author is because I'm a good reader, I'm also a good director, I know what movies are good and what audiences want to watch. I paint Zhuangzi, I only paint what I think is good-looking, and I agree with it. Cai Zhizhong said.
The works in this exhibition are the creations of the Buddhas of Cai Zhizhong in the past two years, and in the comic style he is good at, he incorporates new expressions of ink and wash elements, and makes new attempts to integrate comic forms into traditional techniques. In addition, large-scale oil paintings were also exhibited at the scene, turning the popular legends into creations with a strong sense of story, and the images of the Buddhas jumped on the paper. In 2021 and 2022, Ruotong Gallery has launched "Jue Cai Zhizhong Solo Exhibition" and "Viewing Freedom: Cai Zhizhong Guanyin Exhibition", and this exhibition is the third in Cai Zhizhong's exhibition series launched by Ruotong Gallery. The exhibition will last until January 15, 2024.
Ruotong Gallery's founder, Ruotong, said, "In 2015, I got acquainted with Mr. Cai in Hangzhou, and in Hangzhou's Xixi Creative Park studio, the teacher pointed to a big tree in the garden and asked me, why can the climbing vine climb this big tree and climb to the highest place? We don't see far enough high, we have to try to stand on the shoulders of giants. One flower blooms five leaves, and the fruit is natural. Our gallery is the first community-based gallery in Shenzhen, we are committed to sharing the beauty of art, lifestyle and life wisdom with our family, neighbors and friends, we are willing to be a green leaf, the beauty of art in the soil of Shenzhen spread and blossom and bear fruit, and share it with more people. ”
Written by: Nandu reporter Xie Xiangnan