Chinese illustrator

Zhang Xiaoyu, 44, has spent 18 months turning Liu's novella The Village Teacher into a 96-page comic book. Zhang, a Chengdu-based comic artist, tells China Daily in a telephone interview that he took up the story because of its special connection to him. Zhang, a top Chinese comic creator, is known worldwide for works such as Crusades, Savage Highway and The Take-off.

Zhang graduated from college with a major in fine arts. He started illustrating comics in 1995 and became an art editor with the Science Fiction World magazine where many of Liu's stories debuted. When The Village Teacher first appeared in the magazine, it was Zhang who created the illustrations for the story.

"The dual plotlines in the story present an imaginative world in which there is a huge contrast between the highly-developed alien civilizations and an impoverished village on China's Loess Plateau," Zhang says. "But it's hard to tell which one is the most disadvantaged."

Zhang was touched and shocked by Liu's depictions of the wisdom of teachers in a wider universal sense. Zhang understands the role of teachers in terms of progressing human understanding and civilization, because both his father and sister are teachers.

Zhang prepares each of his works by planning his sketches and designs like storyboards used in movies. He also reads and researches his subject, before moving on to use his "passion" through long hours of drawing.

"Both skills and language are important to my comics, and I hope each of my creations has a different style. Now, I'm pursuing more simplicity and less complexity in my visual presentations," he adds.

Chinese traditional art has been an important inspiration for him and he is working on a comic series entitled The Twin Lotuses.

Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin's Classics will be published in print and digital forms, made into audio books and online lectures. Related cultural products will also be produced.