(Essential questions) Cai Gao: Can picture books allow Western children to meet Chinese traditional culture?

  China News Service, Changsha, September 25th, title: Cai Gao: Can picture books allow Western children to meet Chinese traditional culture?

  China News Agency reporter Bai Zu and Deng Xia

  In 1993, Chinese picture book painter Cai Gao's picture book "The Wasteland Fox" (later renamed "Boer") won the "Golden Apple" award at the 14th Bratislava International Children's Book and Illustration Exhibition, which is equivalent to the Oscar in the film industry. .

As the first person in China to win this award, the picture book "The Story of Peach Blossom Spring", which Cai Gao collaborated with the famous Japanese picture book writer Matsui Nao, attracted international attention again after eight years. Two illustrations in the book were adopted by Japanese elementary school textbooks.

  In an exclusive interview with China News Service, Cai Gao recently said that his experience of winning may only be accidental. Picture books appeared in the West more than 200 years earlier than China. At present, there is still a certain gap between Chinese and Western picture books, and we need to work together to catch up with the gap.

The story of Peach Blossom Spring.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

The summary of the interview record is as follows:

The charm of Chinese culture lies in living cells

China News Agency reporter: Your work has won many awards abroad. How do you see the phenomenon of "popularity" overseas?

Cai Gao:

I don't think I have become popular yet.

For painters, expert recognition is a level, but only winning awards is not enough. Only when they are truly recognized by the public can they be considered "popular."

Whether my picture books can be liked by the Western people, whether the book-compilation philosophy and creative thinking can be accepted by them, I have not investigated, and there is no data to support it.

Of course, I don't want everyone to accept it, but it needs to reach a certain amount, from the spread and circulation of the book to really make people like it.

  It doesn't matter if I go or not. If you can make foreign children and the public feel the goodness of Chinese picture books, like a drop of water, let them feel the nourishment of Chinese culture, it is more important than rewards.

Hua Mulan.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

China News Service: You mentioned your grandmother many times during your previous interview. What influence did she have on your picture book creation?

Cai Gao: When

I was a child, our family had three generations under one roof, and my grandmother lived with us for a long time and told us stories.

The advantage of the traditional big family is that its customs are closely related to the farming civilization, and there are many things that can be taught orally.

My grandmother has no culture, but when she does things, she will sing nursery rhymes and tell stories with us. These things are passed down from generation to generation.

  At that time, life was very poor and easy to eat, but my grandmother could lead her normal life very beautifully. The windows in the house were bright and clean, and she was happy to eat bean sprouts.

My habits and mentality are developed in such a family environment, and everything is positive.

There are some simple truths in the grandmother's story, such as "blinking eyebrows", "going in to see the complexion, going out to see the sky", "a pocket of rain and a pocket of grass", and "planting lotus seeds and blooming lotus".

These fusions have become my aesthetic and philosophical enlightenment.

China News Agency reporter: Most of your picture books are full of Chinese folk culture.

What is the reason why you have been absorbing materials from Chinese folk tales and customs?

Cai Gao:

Folk culture has benefited me too much. Chinese culture is not only in books, but also in daily life and habits.

  Grandma is my enlightenment teacher of aesthetics and philosophy, but this teacher doesn't even know that he is enlightening.

The charm of traditional culture lies in this, in living cells and DNA.

Education should be like this. Grandma has no idea of ​​education at all. It is a kind of traceless influence that makes me culturally aware.

  When I write and draw, I always think of my grandmother. When I look for strength and root causes, I will return to my childhood and follow the folks.

Later, I slowly discovered that what the common people passed on is the most essential. It is the life experience and traditional culture handed down, rather than deliberate preaching.

My childhood was like a storage box. I was able to clean up some things, including the "leftovers" of life, and put them in my picture book.

Boa.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

The meaning of art is to help people fully understand the world

China News Agency reporter: Children's perception of the world around them is more through vision.

How do you think we should guide the child so that he can better feel the colors of the world?

Cai Gao:

A large part of the quality education advocated today is related to aesthetics.

Cultivate children to form a healthy aesthetic taste, and he will have consciousness in life and develop aesthetic habits.

For example, if a blue and white porcelain fish plate is placed on a reddish-brown tabletop, the contrast between cold and warm colors will come out, which will make people feel harmonious.

This is the aesthetic of family life.

When children grow up, they naturally have aesthetic perception.

  When my daughter was young, she smiled every morning when she opened her eyes.

This moved me a lot, and it also reminded me a lot.

Why do children laugh when they open their eyes, and they feel beautiful when they see the sun and the blue sky, but when they grow up, they don’t care when they see the flowers bloom and the leaves grow?

This is aesthetic fatigue, and the pleasure brought by aesthetics is gone.

  The true significance of children's learning of art is to enable them to fully understand the world and become a fully developed normal person.

If you don't feel the sun, clouds, or rain, there are too many missing things.

Art education can strengthen people's ability to perceive and observe the world.

Boa.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

China News Agency reporter: You said that the world is a book without words, but in fact, words are everywhere.

How should we understand your sentence?

Cai Gao:

Don't rush to instill various concepts into children, don't rely on words, let him observe the world with his eyes.

Observing carefully, he saw a tree, an object, and the language came naturally when he wanted to express it.

Just like my "A Bag of Rain and a Bag of Grass", when I paint, the text will naturally "come out", and the picture and text are very compatible.

  By looking at the essence through the phenomenon, you will get true knowledge.

The function of picture books should be in these places.

A good picture book can make you love art, and make yourself better and more beautiful.

With a change in the mind, you will feel good colors and cause aesthetic pleasure.

Everyone's life experience is different, and their perception of specific things is also very different. Naturally, they will have their own understanding and aesthetics during the reading process. Why not let him have his own expression.

The story of Peach Blossom Spring.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee

The essence of Chinese and Western culture is the same

China News Agency reporter: How do you evaluate the phenomenon of fragrance blooming inside the walls of your works? Is it because of the fundamental differences between Chinese culture and Western culture?

Cai Gao: It

is human nature to love beauty. In this regard, there are no obstacles and conflicts between Chinese and Western cultures, but there are differences.

But the essence of human culture is the same, the basic points of art are also the same, and human nature is the same.

Regardless of which ethnic group or race, people love peace and have similar feelings for beautiful things.

China News Agency reporter: What do you think should be done to make Chinese picture book art go further and help Western children meet Chinese culture?

Cai Gao:

This is a very big article, a lifetime career.

  The national is the world, and we must have cultural self-confidence.

We must not forget the tradition, worship foreign and foreign countries, and lose ourselves in globalization, but should find our own national roots.

Matsui Nao once told me that Chinese culture has power.

We must sort out and recognize this power, and integrate it into our works; we must use good works to touch the audience, and let foreigners see our works and feel that it is really good from the bottom of their hearts. It can reflect the thinking of the Chinese people. It's not preaching.

This requires a lot of accumulation and somebody's guidance to find a good fit.

  Wen Tianxiang has a poem: "The sky is full of wind and snow and the heart of the plum blossoms".

Plum blossoms are originally unintentional. They compare the plum heart to the human heart, which is the most quintessential part of Chinese culture.

China has so many excellent cultures, do we really understand it?

I often ask myself, do I really understand?

Do you really accept it?

Therefore, there is no end to learning. We must not only express our thoughts through art, but also have a critical spirit. When we absorb tradition, we should take the essence and discard the dross. This is meaningful.

(over)

About the interviewee:

Photo by China News Agency reporter Bai Zu

  Cai Gao, a famous Chinese picture book painter.

He has created paintings such as "The Wasteland Fox Spirit", "The Story of Peach Blossom Spring", "Mulan", "Fire City-1938", "Moon Baba" and other paintings.

"The Wasteland Fox" won the "Golden Apple" Award at the 14th Bratislava International Children's Book Fair (BIB) in 1993.

In 1996, he was hired as a special expert judge for the first "Little Squirrel" Award by the China Branch of the International Children's Book Union (CBBY).

In 2000, he was hired as a judge of the 34th Bologna International Children's Picture Book Illustration Exhibition.

In 2002, the original exhibition of "The Story of Peach Blossom Spring" traveled to Japan.