Picture-perfect career
Celebrated children’s book illustrator Cai Gao, adored at home and abroad, draws inspiration for her creations from childhood, country life and travel anecdotes, Wang Ru reports.
AI wanted children to know how they — and everyone else — fit into the larger scheme of things that the universe represents. The idea is to help them find their place in the world.”
memorable childhood spent in the endearing company of her grandmother is at the core of Cai Gao’s most amazing picture books for children. The established illustrator and editor recalls with great fondness how her grandmother sang songs inspired by Chinese folklore, and how that became the never-ending source of her visual stories.
“When she’d do some house chores, such as peeling broad beans, she’d often sing softly to herself. I learned about folk tales because of this carefree habit of hers,” says Cai, the winner of several coveted awards.
“We were of modest means, but grandma had the remarkable ability to make everything lavishly beautiful with her songs. So much so that we were content even when it was just bean sprouts for dinner,” the 76-yearold adds.
Those happy days turned her into an inexhaustible powerhouse of ideas, and the illustrator has since devoted her life toward enriching the childhood of others.
Cai spent nearly 12 years teaching in a remote village in Hunan province. The artistic streak already in her genes, she published her first painting in a magazine during the time. Her picture book journey began in 1982, when she was appointed an editor at Hunan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House.
Taking a trip down memory lane, Cai recalls one of the earliest picture books she was acquainted with at work. The Blue-Eyed Pussy, a book by Danish illustrator Egon Mathiesen, opened her eyes.
“Mathiesen had an active mind and a unique perspective. His drawings, which seemed childlike at first glance, wonderfully captured the sentiments of a cat that was too timid to start a new life,” says Cai, who’s based in Changsha, Hunan province.
“Gradually, the illustrations in the book become more mature in order to reflect the cat’s growing courage. Every child that turns over pages of that book embarks on an incredible journey of knowing oneself better.”
Back then, there were many picture books from abroad that were translated and published in China, according to Cai. She confesses she learned a lot from them, but decided to encourage indigenous picture books.
“We were lacking in the authenticity department, I felt. The huge influx of picture books from outside, which were then translated for children in China, left little room for imagination and hence, originality,” she says.
Many contemporary editors preferred working on translated picture books because originals demanded more of their time. But Cai ensured her attention went to authentic ones. She made Finding Dengdeng, one of the earliest floor books in China. It was first published in 1997 and recently republished by Pan Press.
The illustrations follow a steady progression — from a picture of the entire universe on the opening page to our beautiful blue planet, the Earth, to China on the globe to Beijing’s map and finally, to Dengdeng’s home in Beijing. Once completely unraveled, the book morphs into one very large picture that can be spread on the ground for reading.
“I wanted children to know how they — and everyone else — fit into the larger scheme of things that the universe represents. The idea is to help them find their place in the world,” the septuagenarian illustrator explains.
Finding Dengdeng was, in fact, inspired by Cai’s own travel experiences. During a trip to Italy, she had seen a little girl sitting on the floor of a stall at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, poring over a giant tome.
“It occurred to me that Finding Dengdeng can be as humongous when unfolded page by page. I thought if children had to lie prone on the floor to read the book, it just might be good fun,” she says.
When she is not busy editing books, Cai is a good illustrator with many achievements under her belt. Her work The Boy Who Outfoxed a Fox — adapted from a story in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a classic collection of grotesque yarns about spirits spun by Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer Pu Songling — won the Golden Apple Award at the 14th Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava in Slovakia in 1993.
After retiring from the publishing house in 2001, Cai spent more time making her own picture books. She created The Story of the Peach-Blossom Spring in collaboration with Japanese picture book author Tadashi Matsui.
Adapted from a preface to The Peach Blossom Spring by poet Tao Yuanming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420), the story is about a fisherman who gets lost and happens to reach an enchanting utopia. There, people live a blissful and blessed life, unperturbed by troubles that plague the outside world. When the fisherman leaves and tells others about this secret place, nobody could find it anymore.
Cai integrated her experiences of living in the countryside into her creation. In her painting, when the fisherman lands at the place called Peach Blossom Spring, he meets an old man on a bridge. Not far from the bridge is a thatched pavilion. “When I was a country teacher, I often passed a thatched pavilion on my way to school. It was built by generous farmers to offer passersby a place to rest and have tea, stored in a wooden barrel,” she says.
Cai firmly believes that a materialistic mindset pushes people away from nature. “The story of Peach Blossom Spring is a clarion call to return to the natural world. People need to have a carefree lifestyle and value their relationship with nature,” she says.
A person with such insight deserves fans both offline and online. A user named Joan comments on the popular review site Douban: “Illustrations in the book reflect the painter’s good observations on nature. Characters show features of ancient Chinese, and the view seems to be vivid and dreamlike. It’s really a feast for the eyes.”
Cai’s original manuscripts of The Story of the Peach-Blossom Spring are now kept in an art gallery in Tokyo, and several pictures from the work have been selected as illustrations in a textbook for Japanese primary school students.
“Peach Blossom Spring symbolizes nature, and drives a dream. People may hail from different countries, but their love for nature and pursuit of dreams are often common. That is why the book perhaps has a universal appeal,” she says.
“Childhood is the best time of our lives,” she says, on why she insists on creating books for children. “We revel at every little thing, like the first color we see or the first song we hear. I want to celebrate that innocence.”
She has a word of caution for parents. “Never drill concepts into children. Allow them to see the world through their own eyes,” she says. “If a tree is beautiful, let them observe, understand and appreciate that beauty on their own. Don’t tell them to do so.”
Cai Gao, illustrator and editor based in Changsha, Hunan province