“The Child from Qing Shui” is Taiwan’s first biographical graphic novel about political dissident Cai Kunlin, which took nearly four years to complete and has been translated into seven languages including English, French, German, and Japanese. It has received recognition such as the Taipei International Book Exhibition Award and the Freeman Book Award in the United States. The English version of the book was released in the US at the end of last year, and the author You Peiyun, the illustrator Zhou Jianxin, and the translator Jin Ling recently went to the US to participate in lectures, introducing the new book to American readers and sharing Taiwan’s history.
You Peiyun, the author, is a professor at the National Taitung University’s Children’s Literature Research Institute and formerly the twelfth chair of the Republic of China Children’s Literature Society. During a press conference held on the 26th at the Taiwan Cultural Center in New York, You Peiyun mentioned that Cai Kunlin was also involved in the production process of “The Child from Qing Shui.” From scriptwriting to illustrations to publication, the project took nearly four years, with interviews conducted simultaneously to ensure the credibility of the content.
The book is suitable for upper elementary school to junior high school-aged children in Taiwan. Illustrator Zhou Jianxin used techniques such as pencil drawing, printmaking, comics, and collage to cater to child readers in terms of visual representation. When depicting oppressive government officials, he utilized black shadows or blank images to encourage readers to contemplate the characters’ roles.
Cai Kunlin (December 18, 1930 – September 3, 2023) was born in Qing Shui, Taichung, and lived through periods including Japanese rule, the relocation of the Nationalist government to Taiwan, the White Terror era, and martial law. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for participating in a reading club and was imprisoned on Green Island. After his release, Cai Kunlin published children’s magazines, facilitated the Taiwan Red Leaves Little League legend, and actively participated in advocating for the victims of the White Terror in his later years. “The Child from Qing Shui” is divided into four books in Chinese – “The Book-Loving Boy,” “Ten Years on Green Island,” “Prince Era,” and “Becoming a Thousand Winds,” while the English version is split into two parts. The illustrations are delicate and gentle, depicting the struggles of ordinary individuals in extraordinary times and the resilience of the protagonist.
With the support of the Taipei Cultural Center in New York and the Taiwan Academy in Houston, You Peiyun, Zhou Jianxin, and Jin Ling visited New York, New Jersey, and Texas at the end of April and beginning of May to hold seven literary lectures. The events took place at public libraries in various locations including Princeton University, Columbia University, New York, and Austin. The Taipei Cultural Center in New York stated that “The Child from Qing Shui” adopts a familiar graphic novel format in the American market, closely intertwining the content with Taiwan’s local politics, history, and cultural features, believing that readers worldwide will resonate with the human rights issues depicted in the book.