Chen -
《吾皇巴扎黑》和其插画师英文介绍
他既不像日本的Hello Kitty 一样住在粉色的卡通世界里，也不像迪斯尼汤姆一样几十年以来只为追一只老鼠Jerry。
不，他只是他自己，他是中国的动漫。这是一只用传统中国的水墨画和东方水彩画创造出来的卡通猫，他的名字叫吾皇，象征着“万岁”的意思。
He is nothing like the girly Japanese Hello Kitty living in a world of pink and kawaii, neither is he like Disney"s Tom who has spent decades chasing his one nemesis: Jerry the mouse.
Nope. He is one of his own kind, and he is Chinese.
This is a cartoon cat created in traditional Chinese brush painting and oriental watercolors. His name, as you and I shall address him by, is Wuhuang, meaning "My Emperor", or a better translation "Your Imperial Majesty", because usually it es with a hail of "Long live."
And does he not deserve the grand title.
His Majesty rules over his human and his human"s pet bulldog, and he does not bow to no one, for he is proud as suggested by the name, or at least according to the way he perceives of himself.
But in order to earn a can of tuna, he would bear the condescension to allow kisses from his human subjects, and in cases necessary, tame a few fresh newers with his ultimate stare of irresistible cuteness.
Most importantly, he is wise: The cat knows the way of the Chinese living like many philosophers before him, and he shares his wisdom with his 2 million human followers.
For example, he would warn his human that merely speaking harms a country and prosperity es from taking solid, practical actions
When you are feeling frustrated, disappointed, or simply having a hard moment when it seems as if the whole world has turned in your against, His Majesty would tell you, "Keep your calm. It makes your face looks slimmer", or he would advise you "In front of things that you cannot change, learn to enjoy them."
He even tells you not to keep staring into your cellphone screen and talk like a zombie in a crowd. He would remind you to drink plenty of water if you are feeling ill.
There simply are too many reasons for his fans to kneel before His Majesty"s virtual image.
Since his debut in China"s microblog platform Weibo in 2015, his popularity has been surging at a hurricane-like wild speed. Two books have been published to illustrate his daily life with his human "The Youngster" and the dog "Bazhahei"; his fansite, microblog, social work profile, and later an online souvenir store have gained more than 480 million hits in just one year.
In 2015, the first book of the ic series sold more than 400,000 copies, and the author Baicha won the top prize "The Golden Dragon Award" of China"s cartoon and animation realm.
Baicha is a quiet young man in his early 30s, Gemini and native of the northwestern Xi"an, an introvert of very few words but with an active mind of wild imagination and a very unique sense of humor.
Though young by the looks, being one of the pioneers of China"s modern cartoonists, he had been an illustrator for more than a decade.
In 2009 and 2010, for two years in a row, Baicha"s illustrations won China"s maximum glory in science-fiction "The Milky Way Award" -- same honor that he shared with Liu Cixin and his "Three-Body Problem", later a Hugo Award winner.
The glory did not satisfy the young man"s thirst for improvement, and his pursuit of something emblematically his own, his artistic signature continued.
And he was not alone in the search: As the social work developed, the interaction between the artist and his admirers online has been more and more frequent and constructive. Baicha would publish his latest works on the microblog platform where enthusiasts, friends and an increasingly wider range of followers would ment, make suggestions and advice for him to feel inspired, encouraged and motivated to get better.
And that was when he met Wuhuang, a stray cat in reality. The artist adopted the cat, provided a home for the little creature who had always an expression of noble indignation, an encounter he himself described as "meeting the right cat in the right moment".
The cat has shown a strong character and pletely charmed the artist who had been seeking inspiration in an imaginary world. "Since our co-existence, I have found myself changed: I used to resort to my imagination for creative notions and now I have begun to love observing the day-to-day reality", he added.
The cat lover enjoys contemplating his feline friend and finds sparks of inspiration in every detail of their mutual panionship. Using those truthful and realistic details, Baicha was able to re-create them with his imaginative ability and his understanding of a human life.
And that was how the cartoon cat Wuhuang came into being: He is neither a 2-dimensional cartoon nor a real feline predator, but a witty mixture of both.
In front of his huge success, he seemed almost out of the place and humble. He believed that in His Majesty he has begun to realize what could be his own artistic signature:
"Chinese artists have been growing to a certain maturity in terms of techniques, but many of us are still struggling to find a style that could be of ours own, and many are still stranded in the stage of imitation", he said.
He believes that China"s traditional art forms, such as the watercolor brush painting he adopted in creating Wuhuang, could be a rich source of inspiration. To inherit and make evolve the cultural relics could be a way to establish Chinese cartoon"s own signature.
On the other hand, the keen observation of the real, day-to-day life and an honest expression of the details of one"s own existence would naturally be "truly yours own" and "of your own flavor", he suggested.
There is a popular saying around Chinese social work these days as people love to quote: "Life ought not be about the pots and pans at the moment present, but should also aspire for the poetry and those lands afar."
And Baicha said: "if you look with a joyous heart, poetry could be found in every piece of our daily survival."