Author: Liu Meiling

　　Comic strips are also called "Little People's Book", a familiar and unfamiliar word that once carried the childhood memories of Chinese people.

Nowadays, although comic strips fade from the public's perspective, they continue to be passed down as a niche culture.

　　Chen Yu himself

　　In Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, a "post-80s" young man, Chen Yu, has collected nearly 10,000 "little people's books" because he loved comics since he was a child.

In 2014, Chen Yu took the lead in holding the first national comic strip exchange meeting in Guiyang, and in 2020 published the first comic strip monograph in Guizhou.

Chen Yu said that he only hopes to be the inheritor of the comics.

Because of love

He has collected nearly 10,000 volumes of "little people"

　　In Chen Yu's house, there is a 2.3-meter-high bookshelf on one wall, and rows of comics are protected by transparent plastic bags. The entire wall is full of comics with public security themes.

　　The 2.3-meter-high bookshelf in Chen Yu's home

　　In addition, Chen Yu also dedicated a room to store nearly 10,000 comic books in his collection.

　　"When I was young, there was a big bamboo basket for comics." Chen Yu said that his father liked comics very much, so he has been in contact with comics since he was a child. When he grew up, his love for comics has not diminished.

　　"The most profound cultural entertainment in my childhood memory is the comic strip, with pictures and texts, concise and concise, effortless to read, and endless fun. Comic strips have accompanied me to this day." Chen Yu recalled that the most memorable comic strip was People's Fine Arts Publishing House. Published "Journey to the West" in Hunan, "Journey to the West" in Hunan, and "Journey to the Mirror" in Fujian. Many of the masterpieces and literature and history knowledge that are still fresh in my memory are mostly learned from comics in childhood.

　　The Fujian version of the "Jing Hua Yuan" comic is the first series that Chen Yu started, and he bought it at the night market on Yan'an Road in Guiyang.

　　"At that time, you could go to Yangming Road to buy 3 copies at 1 yuan. Because the Fujian version of "Jing Hua Yuan" is a series of 11 books, I just want to read them all before I feel enjoyable."

　　The Lingnan version of the comic book "Eight Immortals in the Sea" Collected by Chen Yu

　　After joining work, Chen Yu often traveled all over the country. Everywhere he went, he always liked to go to the local old book stalls. When he met his favorite comics, he couldn’t help but buy some. Over time, the total number of comics in Chen Yu’s family reached nearly Million copies.

　　Since 2000, Chen Yu has switched from his hobby to the systematic collection of comics. He will start with various forms and themes, but he has the most collections of classical themes.

Chen Yu said: "Because it is the most well-known, I like to hear it the most, but my favorite is the red theme and the public security theme."

　　The comic book "Sidu Chishui" published by People's Fine Arts Publishing House collected by Chen Yu

　　As collections have higher and higher requirements for the appearance of books, in order to protect the appearance of the comics, Chen Yu prepared a special protective plastic bag for each comic. The fine books and acrylic boxes are double-protected.

　　"The number of comics in the collection is of course one aspect, but the quality is more important. This not only protects the comics, but also facilitates display, and the effect is very good."

　　The Shanghai version of the classic comics collected by Chen Yu

Published "Overview of Guizhou Comic Strips"

Filled up the blank of Guizhou comic book monograph

　　Precisely because of love, in order to create a face-to-face communication opportunity for Guizhou comic strip fans, this "post-80s" youth organized the first Guiyang comic strip exchange meeting as the director of the organizing committee on August 8, 2014. .

　　At that time, nearly 250 comic book lovers from 24 provinces and municipalities across the country gathered in Guiyang, and many of them were influential in this field.

　　Regarding the successful holding of the exchange meeting, Chen Yu wrote down his feelings like this: The popularity is overwhelming, and the unprecedented grand event makes me feel sincerely gratified.

　　The Lingnan version of "Chinese Women's Volleyball" comic book collected by Chen Yu

　　Unfortunately, after 6 years, apart from the first comic strip exchange meeting led by Chen Yu, Guizhou has not held the second comic strip exchange meeting.

　　"It is very difficult to hold a national exchange meeting. Funds, hotels, venues, and the content of the event need to be organized." Chen Yu said that in order to hold a comic strip exchange meeting, he asked the unit for annual leave. , Prepared for a long time in advance, and stayed at the venue 24 hours a day during the exchange meeting.

　　Comic strip exchange meetings are activities for comic strip fans across the country to communicate with each other. It has a great influence on comic strip collection circles. Sichuan, Yunnan and Chongqing have held many sessions.

　　"Before 2014, only Guizhou in the southwest had not held it." Chen Yu said that there was no comic book cultural collection organization in Guizhou at that time, so no one had thought about this. Some people said that Guiyang would never hold a national comic book exchange meeting.

　　However, in the end, with the support of Guizhou Provincial Committee of Old Artists and other units, Guiyang successfully held the first National Comic Strip Exchange Conference, which laid the foundation for Chen Yu's later editor-in-chief publication of "Guizhou Comic Strip Overview".

　　In recent years, Chen Yu has been committed to the promotion of comics and established the Guizhou Provincial Committee of Old Artists Comics Cultural Association, which is currently the only comics association organization in Guizhou Province.

　　The cover of the first volume of "A Survey of Guizhou Comic Strips" edited by Chen Yu

　　This year, Chen Yu edited and published "A Survey of Guizhou Comic Strips".

　　On July 28, the first publication of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of Old Artists "Guizhou Cultural Memory" series was held in Guiyang, and "Guizhou Comic Strip Overview" was part of the series.

Cai Kui, director of the series' editorial board and a well-known Guizhou playwright, introduced that there was no monograph on comics in Guizhou before, and this publication just filled the gap in this regard.

To collect information on Guizhou comic strips

Visited more than 20 painters nationwide in 3 years

　　For the past 20 years of systematic collection of comics, Chen Yu said that his greatest effort was the editor-in-chief of the publication of "Guizhou Comics Overview", "because this book recommends Guizhou comics culture."

　　"An Overview of Guizhou Comic Strips" is divided into two volumes. It contains a lot of little-known comic strips, such as those by the late famous Guizhou artists Song Yinke, Fang Xiaoshi and others.

　　In the process of publishing the book, Chen Yu encountered many difficulties, among which collecting information was particularly difficult.

Chen Yu said: “There is too little information on Guizhou comic strips, and many of the contents have been discovered for the first time.”

　　Guizhou Edition Comic Book Collected by Chen Yu

　　In order to collect information on Guizhou comics, Chen Yu visited painters and editors all over the country. Some Guizhou comics disappeared in Guizhou, so he went to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and other places to find them.

It took 3 years to complete the data collection.

　　"For example, "Han Meimei", a pig-raising expert in the comic strip, was found by a collector in Beijing." Chen Yu gave an example. In order to find the comic strip "Han Meimei" in Guizhou, he went to more than 10 collectors for information. It took nearly two years to find it.

　　It took Chen Yu nearly two years to find the Guizhou version of the comic book "Han Meimei"

　　"Although comic strips are'pediatrics', the stories and cultural heritage behind them are very heavy." Chen Yu said, just like Mr. Dai Mingxian, a famous scholar in Guizhou, said, comic strips are really square inches, and everything is diverse.

　　Although the circulation of newly published comics has been very small in recent years, for Chen Yu, “comic comics are definitely my lifelong hobby. I will continue to work hard to promote the cultural association of comics and recommend Guizhou comics stories to more fans across the country.” Regarding how to promote Guizhou comics in the future, Chen Yu plans to edit historical materials on public security-themed comics and movie comics.

　　Pictures provided by respondents