Every day of your happiness is what Sanmao longs to have.
In the cartoon "Sanmao Wanderer", this sentence is the most impressive to me. Sanmao, a child, is a pitiful character in Zhang Leping's pen, and his life seems to have been unfortunate all along. Although he has been trying to pursue happiness, in the end, he still has not achieved his own happiness.
Whenever I talk about Sanmao, I think of the skinny little kid, wearing tattered clothes and only three handfuls of hair on his head. In Mr. Zhang Leping's pen, this child is unfortunate. However, in real life, the child's encounter is a portrayal of the fate of most people at the beginning of the last century.
The reason why Mr. Zhang Leping can portray such a character is actually that there is an archetype in real life.
The first time he created the image of Sanmao was in 1935, when Mr. Zhang Leping was only 25 years old, but since he was a child, he had already seen the bitterness of those low-level people in that social environment at that time.
One night in the winter of 1947, when it was snowing so hard, Mr. Zhang Leping was on his way home and saw three wandering children. In the heavy snow, their thin bodies hugged each other tightly for warmth, but they were still shaking. On their bodies, only a tattered sack was covered, but in this cold weather, there was no warm effect at all.
Looking at these three children, Zhang Leping's heart seemed to have been stabbed by something, and he was faintly in pain. However, at that time, he could not even solve his own food and clothing problems, let alone see what help these three children provided. So, even if he couldn't bear it, in the end, he had to walk away.
That night, Zhang Leping's mind was always thinking about the 3 children, and he didn't sleep well all night. The next day, when Zhang Leping passed there again, everything in front of him was difficult for him to accept. Two of the three children were already lying quietly on the ground, wrapped in straw mats and set aside, their bodies already reddish-purple. Zhang Leping suddenly squatted on the side of the road and cried bitterly, he could do nothing but see these children die.
At that time, this situation was not a minority, too many people were like this, no family, no shelter, only wandering around. And tragic death on the side of the road was not unusual at that time.
After this incident, Zhang Leping began to create the image of "Sanmao". He has too many intentions in his heart, and he just wants to show it through comics. However, in this process, it is not so smooth. Because Zhang Leping worked day and night, and because, at that time, his life was not very good, so his body soon could not support it. Later, after checking in the hospital, I learned that I had lung disease.
However, Zhang Leping did not give up painting, but always insisted, even if his body could not stand it, he also insisted on it. Later, Mr. Zhang Leping's health even began to cough up blood every day, but he still insisted on finishing his cartoons. Because he wants more people to pay attention to this group of homeless children, so that he can help them. There was nothing he could do on his own, and that seemed to be all he could do. Later, with the support of his family and Puyi, Zhang Leping finally completed the comic.
Beginning in 1947, "The Wanderings of Sanmao" began to be serialized in newspapers and periodicals, which triggered many people in society, and in 1948, it was made into a movie. Later, more and more people in the society began to pay attention to homeless children, and Mr. Zhang Leping finally realized his long-cherished wish.
Artists like Mr. Zhang are admirable for their artistic creation from the perspective of the whole society.