Feng Zikai (1898-1975) was a painter, musician and educator. He was born in Yuxi, Shimen Town of Zhejiang Province (now Shimen Prefecture, Tongxiang Town, Zhejiang Province) and graduated from The 1st Normal School of Zhejiang Province. He studied art and music from Li Shutong and studied Chinese from Xia Mianzun. In 1921, he travelled to Japan to further his studies. Since then, his creation has been influenced by Takehisa Yumeji, Fukiyakouji and Chen Shizeng. Feng Zikai put forward the concept of “manhua (Chinese comics)”; he described people’s daily life, especially children’s world, in a highly concise manner, which pushes traditional Chinese ink painting forward in a new direction. He successively helped establish many schools, and was one of the founders of the Kaiming Publishing House. Through the establishment of schools, translation, writing, publishing, textbook compilation and picture design, Feng Zikai spared no effort to carry out modern humanistic education focusing on art and music. He is one of the representative figures in the transformation period when traditional Chinese literati changed themselves to modern intellectuals in the 20th century. The influence of Feng Zikai’s Collected Works, Yuan-Yuan Tang Sui Bi, Zikai Cartoons, Hu Sheng Hua Ji and his other literary and artistic creation is still current throughout the world.
