Feng Zikai was a pioneering figure in modern Chinese cartooning and a versatile artist, writer, translator, and musician. Blending Chinese literati painting with Western drawing, he used simple lines and empty space to reveal the poetry of everyday life. His 1924 work After the Guests Have Gone, a New Crescent Moon and Sky Like Water was so influential that the new art form became known as “Zikai’s Cartoons.”

Feng Zikai’s art also holds a special appeal for children. His simple lines, playful scenes, and gentle sense of humor preserve the freshness and curiosity of a child’s way of seeing the world. At the same time, his quiet compositions and generous use of empty space create a feeling of calm, inviting viewers to slow down and notice the warmth in ordinary life. To many children, Feng Zikai is not only a great artist, but also a kind, cat-loving grandfather whose pictures understand their small joys, imagination, and emotions.

Notable examples include:

• "Classical Poetry Vision" works such as After the Guests Have Gone, a New Crescent Moon and Sky Like Water and A Bosom Friend Afar Brings a Distant Land Near, which turn Tang and Song poetry into spare, modern images.
• "Children Vision" works such as Abao Has Two Legs, the Stool Has Four, When Papa Is Away, and Abao Bare-Chested, using faceless, minimal figures to depict a child's inner world.
• Destruction and Construction, a pioneering four-panel cartoon that introduced sequential storytelling to Chinese cartooning.
• "Social Vision" works such as Go to the Front, depicting wartime hardship with restrained, dignified composition.
• A Collection of Paintings for the Protection of Life, including Supporting Life and The Sound of Parting, expressing compassion for all living beings through pure ink and empty space.

Feng Zikai matters because he was among the first Chinese artists to bridge literati painting tradition and a modern visual language, drawing on Chen Shizeng's literati spirit, Li Shutong's technical training, and Takehisa Yumeji's lyrical style. He turned Chinese cartooning from satire into serious art, and turned everyday moments, wartime suffering, and compassion for living things into images of lasting emotional weight.

Ming Aretê’s lesson on Feng Zikai unfolds in two parts. Here in Part I, we return to the beginning: Feng Zikai’s childhood discoveries, the teachers and artistic traditions that shaped his distinctive voice, and his return to China to begin teaching and creating. It is the story of how a boy who loved drawing grew into one of modern China’s most beloved artists.