zheng-yuanjie

The King of Fairy Tales

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The world of fairy tales seems to be very distant from our lives as adults. There are princes and princesses, witches and fairy godmothers, magical creatures and happily-ever-after endings. However, in the fairy tale land of Zheng Yuanjie, almost none of these things exist
 
 
Nicknamed ‘The King of Fairy Tales’, Zheng Yuanjie’s strong influence on the imaginations of children in China goes without saying. For more than 31 years he has been publishing and writing a monthly children’s literature magazine called The King of Fairy Tales. 
 
He was was listed at the top of the ‘Writers Rich List’ in 2009 and 2012, and was the first Chinese writer to be awarded the ‘International Copyright Creative Gold Award’ by the United Nations in 2008. His work is said to have influenced three generations of children in China.
 
However, his stories do not follow the usual cliché fairy tale patterns. Rather, he suggested in an interview with Southern Weekly that his fairy tales “do not have princesses and princes, but serve as a vaccine”.  In other words, the stories try to prepare children for some of the harsher realities of life in their futures.
 
Indeed, what some children find in Zheng’s fairy tales is not a world of fantasy and fun, but a world with troubles, pain and worries. The writer wants his little readers to learn about reality and gain useful information through his stories. 
 
“After reading my stories, children are not going to think that I was lying to them when they have grown up,” he said.
 
His family and his upbringing have likely contributed to the style of his literary creations. Born in 1955 in the Chinese province of Hebei, Zheng’s parents both joined the People’s Liberation Army before the founding of the People’s Republic of China. 
 
Zheng once told People’s Daily Online that his father would hold him by his arm and read Karl Marx’s Das Kapital to him. When Zheng was young, his father would also discuss his thoughts and ideas about other books he had read, and Zheng believes that his father had a huge influence on him that even shapes how he educates his own son.
 
The writer describes his mother as an “interesting person”. When it was time for him to decide whether to apply for university, his mother told him that it was not necessary to study at university. He also thinks that his mother’s kindness helped him to preserve his sense of innocence and to become the ‘King of Fairy Tales’.
 
Having created fairy tales for so many years, Zheng realized that many of his readers are now adults, and this has inevitably influenced his writing and pushed his works towards the adult world.
 
He even decided to stop publishing new stories in his The King of Fairy Tales magazine. However, he is still reaching out and influencing many readers through other channels like some online social media platforms.
 
“On the Internet, I talk about things that I do not like, things I need to resolve. It will be too late to wait to publish fairy tales.”
 
 
Macau artist Eric Fok is just one of the talented visual artists participating in this year’s 
The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival
 
 
Young Macau artist Eric Fok has announced that he will present a brand new piece of work that he has specially created for the Macau Literary Festival, together with other art pieces from his previous collections.
 
Eric is particularly well known for his excellent techniques and creative ideas, blending both historical and present-day aspects of Macau into his works. His elegant technical illustration collection Paradise was selected for a number of awards, including the renowned ‘Bologna Illustrators Exhibition’ in 2013.
 
For the Paradise collection, Eric chose a creative and interesting way to interpret today’s Macau presenting it in the stlye of old Western maps. Looking at this collection, one has the feeling of stepping back into the history of Macau. The style of map is inspired by those used and created by the early Portuguese explorers who  set out on their adventures to the Far East and arrived in Macau in the mid-1500’s. Centuries later, this tiny city has become a melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures, and in his artwork Eric presents the new adventure being undertaken in Macau, depicting images of rapid development juxtaposed on an old-style map – a perfect echo of the city’s history.
 
“It was 2011 to 2012 when I was drawing the Paradise collection, the peak of the gambling industry development in Macau and everything was changing so fast,” says Eric. “Macau could hardly keep up with the pace at that time and that led to many social problems. So I came up with the idea to reflects today’s Macau in an old map. It presents a feeling of time travel.”
 
 Artists often find inspiration in their hometowns and connect it to their art work in their own unique way. This sense of belonging can increase as one gets to know and understand more about the place’s origins and what it is has gone through.
 
 “I am amazed as I research more about Macau’s history. It always surprises me when I find out that the places I go to were once the sea. There are so many places in Macau that are reclaimed land.  This inspired me to show the changes of the coastline of Macau throughout these years in my work,” Eric explains. “For me it is always a process of learning while I draw, to reveal the history of Macau and to discover more untold stories.”
 
 Speaking about his plans for his exhibition at The Script Road, Eric reveals that it is still a work in progress.
 
 “At this stage I am still conceptualising it. My idea is to connect an ancient Chinese poet with a technical drawing. I am not sure if I will change my mind when I draw, but for now I would like to present it in a Chinese reel painting. Nonetheless I still need to study more about the poet so I can make up my mind,” Eric admits.
 
 Today there is a trend of combining different fields of art to create new interpretations, for example combining digital mapping with historical heritage architecture.
 
 “To combine literature with drawing is also a new attempt for me, so I am looking forward to the final product and seeing how it will turn out.”
 
 

 
 
 
 
+ Cinema
 
 
 
 
 
 
+ Visual arts
 
 
 
 
 
For more details about The Script Road and the complete programme of events go to
 www.thescriptroad.org
 

 

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