SANMAO, THE HERO WITH A HEART
He is not as well-known as Walt Disney’s favorite characters, but in China the love for him has endured almost since Donald Duck hit the screen
It was their hairstyles or headgear as much as anything that gave them instant recognition.
First, in 1928, the mouse with erect black ears and a semi-permanent grin made his grand entrance.
Then, the following year, came the youngster with the golden locks with a swishedback clump standing up in the middle of it all.
In 1934 the duck with a sailor’s hat and shirt and a red bowtie said hello to the world.
Then, the following year, the lad with three solitary strands of hair on an otherwise bald head shuffled onto the stage, the hair and his two bare feet signaling that for him, unlike the other three characters, life was to be endured rather than enjoyed.
The wonder of all this is that more than 80 years after these characters — the Americans Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, the Belgian Tintin and the Chinese Sanmao — first appeared, they are still with us, ageing yet ageless, and the great amusement they gave us has left its mark on billions of people worldwide.
But beyond that fun, delivered through comic books, on the big screen and on television, these characters have at times had a serious underside. In fact in the book How to Read Donald Duck, first published in Spanish in 1971, and which became a bestseller in Latin America, Ariel Dorfman and Amand Mattelard depicted Disney comics as tools for spreading Western capitalism. As for the brave and adventurous Tintin, his first outing in
At the memorial gallery of the late Chinese artist Zhang Leping, an entire wall at the exit is covered with messages left by admirers touched by the story of Sanmao, the comic character Zhang created.
One message from a mother to her son reads: “Dear Ai Ai, you are now five years old. This is the first time your father and I have brought you to this gallery. We trust that in the future you will discover more beautiful things and that the world will treat you gently.”
A teacher writes: “The story of Sanmao is such a poignant one that it will be remembered for a long time to come.”
When the memorial gallery was inaugurated last year visitors formed long queues as they waited to enter. Zhang Weijun, the youngest child of the late artist, says the venue still draws large crowds.
Sanmao’s enduring popularity extends to publishing as well. Wang Yunmei, an editor with Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House in Shanghai, says the Sanmao series titled The Winter of Three Hairs, first published more than 70 years ago, is still a bestseller.
“With our Shanghai Century Publishing Group the series is always one of the best sellers. Sales of the series started to rebound in about 2010 and it has since been among the top five books for the group every year.”
While the children of today live in a world very different to the one that Sanmao inhabited, his story is one that still evokes amusement and admiration, she says.
This year, Shanghai Century Publishing Group plans to hold a special exhibition of Zhang’s comic works at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, the largest event of its kind in the world, Wang says.
“Excellent Chinese comic works such as Sanmao need to be shared with more readers outside China. There’s no reason why Sanmao cannot be the next Tintin.”
Wang Longji, the actor who played the role of Sanmao in the movie The Winter of Three Hairs in 1949, says the film featured all the top actors in Shanghai, a testament to the influence and magnetism of the comic character. The filming of the movie took place between 1948 and 1949, during which civil wars forced production to halt several times.
“All the big names of the time, such as Zhao Dan, Huang Zongying, Wu Yin and Shangguan Yunzhu, were in the movie. These established movie stars played small roles such as a doorman or a lady in a party just to support me, an eight-year-old nobody in the movie industry, simply because Sanmao deeply touched them.
“Because of my role, I got close to Zhang Leping and many actors and artists. I later found out that so many of them did not work for money and fame, but for love for children. It is this great love that crosses boundaries and time.”
In 2015, the French version of the book, San Mao: Le Petit Vagabond, beat 10 other contenders to win the Heritage Award at the 42nd Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
The event organizer said it had awarded the accolade to the comic because of its portrayal of optimism and kindness.
Seeing how the comic has touched the lives of so many people, Zhang Weijun now plans to turn Sanmao into an ambassador for charity.
“I hope that Sanmao will soon be able to step out of the comic books to attend more charity events.”
There’s no reason why Sanmao cannot be the next Tintin.”
Wang Yunmei, an editor with Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House in Shanghai