The Old Tire

ZHU CHENGLIANG was born in Shanghai in 1948 with an innate talent and interest in painting. Later in his life, he was enrolled in Nanjing University of the Arts, majoring in oil painting. Over forty years of creation and illustration, Zhu has provided the children in China with more than fifty excellent picture books.

Zhu Chengliang spent his childhood in Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, a place of beautiful natural scenery. He attended the Department of Fine Art of Nanjing University and work as an editor and designer. As an illustrator he uses different techniques for different stories. In Zao Wang Ye (The story of the kitchen god, 1988), a story about a traditional festival, he used the typical Chinese New Year painting style. For the book Huo Yan by Xi Dun (Flame, 2007), he used watercolour to express the emotion in the story of a threatened fox. Watercolour also conveys the beautiful landscapes in the story of a grandson and a little fox in Ye Ye de Da Huo Xia by Xu Lu (Grandpa’s tinderbox, 2013), which was selected for the IBBY Honour List 2014. His most successful work, Tuan Yuan by Yu Liqiong (A New Year’s reunion, 2008) was awarded first prize in the Feng Zikai Children’s Book Award 2010 and the English translation was listed as one of the 2011 Ten Best Illustrated Books by the New York Times.