Traditional books back in fashion

Sector benefits from general revival of culture, Yang Yang reports.

In March 2019, Zhang Meng, an editor in charge of the cartoon section in Beijing Xiron Culture Group, was browsing Weibo, where many artists post their works. She came across a comic strip that personified Chinese characters and was immediately captured by its creativity.

The story, created by Milehemilu called Word Man, took place in a world where citizens were all Chinese characters. They had to live according to the original meanings of the characters and radicals (the characters' parts) were not allowed to exist independently. Chou (ugly) was a freshman at Character College, who was always bullied. At the college entrance ceremony, Chou met a fugitive Tishoupang (a radical meaning using hands to do something) that was running from the Radical Hunters. The two formed a new character Niu, which had a number of meanings including twist, grapple and wrench. They thus commenced an adventure in the world of Chinese characters.

"I was thinking: 'Wow, a story about Chinese characters! If we can discuss and develop the plot more,'" the 34-year-old says, adding that "there were few similar cartoons in the market".

Zhang did not hesitate to reach the artist and found he already conceived lots of ideas about the "characters of characters".

Before developing a story and the "personality" for a Chinese character, Milehemilu would first learn about the origin and evolution of its meanings.

Milehemilu, born in 1997, represents a new generation of writers who, inspired by Chinese traditional culture, are using new perspectives and forms to create works that are received well among young readers.

"He was not a professional cartoonist, but interested in the art and Chinese characters. He created the work and was fully devoted to it. We all liked the story, so soon we decided to cooperate," Zhang says.