18 | Tuesday, June 15, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE Tibetan author pictures a rewarding career

LHASA — Opening a book deco- China’s Sichuan province. rated with simple pictures and Tatse majored in traditional Chi- written in the Tibetan language, nese medicine and international Tatse introduces his latest work to trade, but his chosen fields did not readers. stir his passion. “This book is called My First “I was a little lost in college,” he Tibetan Alphabet Book, and it says. teaches children the Tibetan lan- After graduation, he became an guage through pictures,” says Tat- English teacher for a training se, 33. agency in Chengdu. It was there Though born in a rural area in that he developed an interest in Southwest China’s Tibet autono- education. mous region, Tatse received good In 2013, he returned to Lhasa, compulsory education, went to the capital of Tibet, and together university and then studied with three other people, he abroad. After returning to Tibet, launched his own training agency. he chose to promote picture books It was then that he officially began to create a more colorful world for his work on picture books. local children. “An increasing number of peo- He has two more books under ple born after 1985 and in the his belt and they will be published 1990s have become parents,” says soon. Tatse. “They know picture books Tatse’s passion to teach children well and many of them want their about the world comes from his children to read picture books.” own childhood experience. Picture books not only tell sto- Tatse was born in the county of ries and spread new knowledge, Gyantse and he was not a fan of but also help children to form school when he was a child. good reading habits, he says. “I often broke the classroom’s In 2014, Tatse and his friends windows,” he recalls. “But I began to create a picture book remember I was quite interested based on Tibetan legends that in painting, and I often wrote or advocate mutual respect and love, drew on the blackboard.” revering the elderly and caring for Tatse’s mother died when he the young. Ink oeuvre was still a child. To give him a bet- It took a lot of time and effort, ter education, his father took him but in 2018, the picture book was to Tatse’s uncle, who was a teach- published. er. In the same year, Tatse won a An exhibition is being held on master painter Li Keran for the 40th “When I was in sixth grade, my scholarship overseas and left anniversary of his art school, Lin Qi reports. uncle brought me a set of blue pic- Tibet to continue his education. ture books. It was a selection of the He majored in early childhood world’s most famous fairytales, education. ate modern master Li Keran ty (1644-1911), to convey a philosoph- and there were eight books.” With a broader horizon, Tatse used to quote the words of ical thinking of coexistence between Containing both pictures and explored the industry further. He Isaac Newton, “If I have seen humans and nature. characters, the books were easy to launched a public account called further, it is by standing Li didn’t continue to depict recur- digest, and Tatse finished reading “Bedtime Stories for Children” Lupon the shoulders of giants,” as an ring themes of classical Chinese them quickly. on the instant messaging service encouragement to younger artists. paintings such as court ladies, schol- “I was quite excited after read- WeChat. He also launched a When he was alive, Li often said ars, hermits and immortals. Instead, ing them,” he says. bookshop selling a variety of chil- the process of acquiring new knowl- he focused on laborers and farmers to It was the first time he had seen dren’s picture books in different edge was like “a relay race” and that give his works a realistic perspective. picture books, and the first time he languages. future artists would carry on the leg- “He always said real life and tradi- had experienced the “amazing He was able to obtain 3 million acy of classical Chinese paintings just tions were the sources of knowledge, combination of characters and yuan ($466,200) in low-interest as he had done after carving a name and were what the National Acade- pictures”. loans through preferential govern- for himself in China’s art history in my of Painting should focus on,” says Soon after Tatse began attend- ment policies. the latter half of the 20th century. Lu Yushun, the academy’s current ing high school, his father died. He These days, Tatse seizes every Li was a pioneer in exploring director. “He said at the academy’s says it was a big blow, but it also opportunity to promote picture styles and themes in Chinese ink founding ceremony that a mission of “awakened” him. books, including via online painting. He developed a school of the National Academy of Painting “I started studying diligently,” he streaming. landscape art to portray the image of was to inherit and develop classical says. “I hope that more children, and his homeland’s mountains and .” In 2005, he ranked first in his even their parents, will get to enjoy streams, based on extensive jour- At the top of 20th century Chinese class in the national college the happiness brought by picture neys across China. He rendered his art, Li was accomplished in creation exam, and was enrolled at South- books,” he says. paintings a touch of historic gran- and theoretical studies, Lu says, add- west Jiaotong University in deur, romanticism and spirituality ing that the exhibition is a reminder Chengdu, capital of Southwest XINHUA to capture the eyes of people from to artists today to be self-equipped different walks of life. enough to take the baton from pre- Research on Li Keran’s Art, an decessors such as Li and pass it onto ongoing exhibition that opened at the next generation for Chinese ink the China National Academy of artists to thrive. Painting in on May 23, pays A permanent re-creation of Li’s homage to his commitment to enliv- former studio, well-known as Shi ening the centuries-old visual art Niu Tang (“room in tribute to cows”), tradition. The show is part of cele- was also unveiled at the exhibition brations marking the 40th anniver- opening, and the display includes a sary of the academy. The academy table Li used to work on and his book did not specify when the exhibition cabinet. will end. Li Geng, a son of Li Keran and Li was 74 years old when he was head of Li Keran Academy of Paint- appointed the founding director of Top: Bull Fighting by Li Keran on display at the China National ing, says the replicated studio will the academy. Before that, he had Academy of Painting in Beijing. Above: Li’s Lotus Pool is also on engage people in a similarly modest taught classical painting at the Cen- show. photos provided to china daily environment in which his father tral Academy of Fine Arts for several used to paint and think. decades. “Many artists of my father’s gener- Born to illiterate parents in Xu­- At the school, Li learned oil paint- faced a crisis of existence. ation all worked in rather small spa- zhou, province, Li studied at ing under then-headmaster Lin The exhibition shows Li’s land- ces, where they never ceased to the Hangzhou Fine Art School, now Fengmian who had studied in scapes and buffalo paintings, a pop- reflect on the changes of life and , in Hangzhou, France and was devoted to bridging ular theme in his oeuvre. explore creative possibilities,” Li Zhejiang province. It is a prestigious Chinese and Western art philoso- Li’s paintings show an influence of Geng says. school that produced many impor- phies. The training allowed Li to step great ancient painters, such as Zhu Tibetan teacher Tatse tells a story from a picture book during a tant figures in the country’s 20th aside from the rigid rules of classical Da and the “four landscape painters Contact the writer at livestream in April. Majoring in early childhood education, Tatse century art. Chinese painting, which at the time surnamed Wang” of the Qing Dynas- [email protected] seizes every opportunity to promote picture books. xinhua Videos of roving elephants remind me of a rampage I filmed

The recent viral videos of wild I’ll never forget hearing breaking with its trunk and started chomp- morning. So, we went to get a closer We did. As fast as we could. elephants wandering in a down- glass and screams when my wife, But when we ing on pineapples inside. look at, and photos of, the damage. After a while, the coast seemed town area in Yunnan province brother, mom, dad and aunt Whenever the creatures stepped Then, we took the cable car back clear again, and we successfully immediately reminded me of my approached the treehouse dwell- returned to the out for a minute, staffers taking ref- to the park’s gate, where there were returned to our arboreal dwellings. own experience watching a herd — ings we’d booked for our holiday in treehouses via the uge on the elevated walkway several attractions, including a Then, the elephants also perhaps even the same one — 2009. dashed in, crossing the bridge span- museum and butterfly house. returned, again. destroy buildings in I didn’t originally understand cable car and ning a river between the treehouses But when we returned to the Problem was, we had a flight to the province’s jungle why we had to walk there from the disembarked, a guard and restaurant to retrieve valuables treehouses via the cable car and dis- Chengdu, capital of Sichuan prov- during Spring Festi- park’s entrance, rather than take — the cash register, computers and embarked, a guard told us to stay ince, the next morning. val in 2009. the cable car through the canopy. told us to stay put. the like. put. And we were worried we couldn’t In recent weeks, The ticket seller said something The elephants had They even salvaged some boiled The elephants had also returned. catch it if the wild creatures were footage has emerged about “elephants attacking”. I was corn and a cooler full of drinks, After a while, he shouted: “OK! still blocking our way out of the wil- of 15 elephants that sure my Chinese level meant I mis- also returned. which they let those of us watching Run!” derness. Try explaining that to the Erik wandered 500 kilo- understood him. But I didn’t. After a while, he the spectacle enjoy for free. We started bolting toward the airline! Nilsson meters from the We arrived on an elevated walk- shouted: “OK! Run!” One baby used its trunk to treehouses. Fortunately, they were nowhere Second Xishuangbanna way where a crowd was watching thwack tables and chairs into the My mother had broken her leg to be seen when we awoke. Thoughts National Nature the elephants ravage a restaurant We started bolting river, one by one. just before the trip, and limped So, we packed up. Reserve into an set up for tourists. toward the We sat and snapped photos and along full speed, head bobbing like And, after chasing a monkey urban center in Eshan Yi autono- They weren’t angry. They were shot videos with our cameras (this a water bird, falling behind the away from our luggage, we left the mous prefecture and later a suburb hungry. treehouses. was pre-smartphone era) for hours, group. rainforest wilderness of Xishuang- of the provincial capital, Kunming. They’d smashed a nearby photo until dusk inked out their plodding But that meant she was all the banna for the concrete jungle of The herd initially included two booth and bashed a hole in the side silhouettes. closer to the cable-car stop when Chengdu. more pachyderms. But they ended of the eatery. We watched in disbe- Two photographs from that day gray ominously filled in the spaces up imbibing booze and wandering lief as one elephant spun a refriger- still hang on my living room wall. between the green leaves ahead, Contact the writer at away from the group, authorities say. ator across the ground, opened it The creatures were gone the next and the guard shrieked, “Go back!” [email protected]