NEWS.
On January 8, 2025, a reissue of Tintin and the Blue Lotus and a biography of the famous Chinese sculptor Zhang Chongren. The link? Zhang, a great friend of Hergé, helped him write the comic strip published in 1935 and inspired the character of Tchang, who appears for the first time in this album.
In 1990, the sculptor told Frédéric Mitterrand the story of their meeting. A discussion available at the top of the article.
L’ARCHIVE.
It all began in 1934. Hergé would then begin writing the Blue Lotus and wanted to take Tintin to China. Knowing very little about the customs and culture of this country, he decided to contact Zhang Chongren to learn more. Originally from China, Zhang studied sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.
In 1990, at the microphone of Frédéric Mitterrand, the latter remembered his meeting with Hergé: “ He wants to write a book on Tintin in China, but he has no documents. So he asks me: “Can you help me?” »
Zhang therefore introduced Hergé to Chinese culture, provided him with the documents necessary for writing the adventure of Tintin and created the calligraphies present in the album. His contribution was such that Hergé decided to create a character to pay homage to him: Chang, Tintin’s friend.
As the sculptor recounted on the set of “Étoile Palace”, the paths of the two friends separated in 1935 when Zhang left Belgium to return to China. Returning to his country, the sculptor focused on his career and acquired a certain reputation. Having remained in contact until then, Hergé and Zhang ended up losing sight of each other with the start of the Second World War.
A late reunion
After the war, Zhang continued his activity as a sculptor, but the socio-political context complicated his task. Having fallen from grace with the arrival of Mao Zedong to power and the Cultural Revolution of 1966, he was finally rehabilitated in the 1970s. The arrival of Deng Xiaoping at the head of China and the economic liberalization of the country allowed him to recover great notoriety and being appointed director of Fine Arts in Shanghai.
The story of friendship between Zhang and Hergé, for its part, was far from over. On the other side of the globe, Hergé had not forgotten his friend. As Frédéric Mitterrand recounts: “ During that time, without knowing it, Hergé was looking for you. He was looking for you so much that he made this book, Tintin au Tibetwhere he sees you appearing in a dream. »
Hergé’s research was not in vain; the two friends ended up meeting again on March 18, 1981 in Brussels, in front of journalists’ cameras, after more than 47 years of separation. But the celebrations were short-lived. Hergé was already very weakened by leukemia which took him away, only two years after this reunion.
Zhang, for his part, continued his career as a sculptor. He settled in France from 1985 and even created the sculpture of the bust of President François Mitterrand following his re-election in 1988. He died in October 1998, at the age of 91, in the Paris suburbs.
