Affectionately known in China as “the grandmother of picture books,” Cai Gao is a pioneer in illustrating children’s picture books. In 1993, she won the Golden Apple Award at the 14th Biennial of Illustration Bratislava for Bao’er—The Fox Spirit in the Abandoned Garden—becoming the first Chinese artist to receive such a prestigious accolade. Thirty years after the book was published, the story was adapted into a traveling puppet show that went on to win four international awards.
This year, Cai was nominated for the 2026 Hans Christian Andersen Award. The 79-year-old illustrator/author, who was born in the city of Changsha in South Central China, is renowned for producing works that are culturally specific and yet universal, with illustrations that look traditional and modern at the same time. She often uses classical Chinese art and impressionist color techniques to tell Chinese stories. Many of her picture books are based on ancient literary classics, reflecting the beauty of rural life as it was lived in China for thousands of years. The stories literally connect past roots to the present while embracing the future.
“My earliest memories were of a world filled with storytelling,” says Cai, who grew up during the last days of an era when stories were passed down orally from generation to generation. “So I always emphasize the importance of good storytelling for children, something that I learned from my grandmother. For me, a story should be a source of both enjoyment and enlightenment.”
For Cai, “returning to innocence” and “maintaining an inclusive and open attitude to various possibilities” are both a way of life and a creative pursuit. Her picture books draw upon traditional Chinese culture in a form that is accessible to young—and modern— readers with timeless philosophical ideas beneath the surface that adults can appreciate as well.
In the early 1990s, Cai started collaborating with overseas publishers such as Fukuinkan Shoten and Iwanami Shoten in Japan and Borim Press in South Korea. In 2001, she worked with Japanese writer Matsui Tadashi on The Land of the Peach Blossom, which was published by Fukuinkan Shoten. Based on Tao Yuanming’s classic poem, it conveys the Taoist vision of nature and the beautiful life. The first 5,000 copies of the Japanese edition sold out within a month, and the title was reprinted immediately. Two years later, the story and two of Cai’s illustrations were included in Japanese textbooks for sixth graders—a historic achievement for a Chinese illustrator.
Cai Gao entered her most creative period after 2000, producing works such as Beautiful Chinese Folk Tales, Meng Jiangnv, Hua Mulan, Blazing City 1938, Three Monks, What Can You See in the Moon, How I Came to Be Me, and What Would It Be Like Without... ?; the last two, published in 2024, experimented with new artistic approaches. Over the past four decades, Cai Gao’s growing reputation as an illustrator/author in China has turned her into a media personality as well. In addition to appearances on talk shows aimed at promoting her books and reading, some of the interviews and reports about her in Xiaohongshu social media—or RedNote as it is known in the U.S.—have been viewed more than 20 million times. As she approaches 80, she remains active as an artist. Her recent books Each Seedling Has Its Own Rainfall and Let It Bloom! are selections of short essays from her diaries that offer unique perspectives on life and nature.
"Picture books carry a lot of seeds,” says Cai, who held her first solo exhibition in Beijing in 2008 and has been tirelessly promoting picture books to children, parents, and educators through her talks. “I want to sow the seeds of happiness. Literature has its own movements and its own seasons. But the spirit of literature is eternal. Reading and creating are forms of self-examination and education and therefore a route to a greater self-awareness.”
