Wukong Cup Comic Contest 2020 winners awarded in Beijing

A ceremony was held to award young Chinese, Japanese and Korean winners of the Wukong Cup Comic Contest 2020 in Beijing on Dec. 27.

Organizers of the Wukong Cup received a total of more than 3,600 submissions. After the selection and evaluation process conducted by judges from the three countries, China's"The World Inside a Pillow" (Zhen zhong ji), Japan's"Classmate Teruko" and South Korea's"Video Game Player" won the top awards, with the panel stating that the three works represented the highest level of comics by young people in the three countries.

Zhi Suoyi, author of the award-winning"The World Inside a Pillow," spoke in her acceptance speech via video link about the event's aim to promote artistic exchanges between China, Japan and South Korea.“It builds an open platform for Chinese, Japanese and Korean comic creators,” she explained.“I hope that through the platform, we can show our works to everyone and let them appreciate the charm of traditional Chinese culture. At the same time, I also hope through the works of contestants from other countries, we will know more about their cultures, lives and spiritual worlds."

Du Zhanyuan, president of China International Communications Group (CICG), said in his speech that young people should play a role as a fresh force in the integration of cultures and building of closer relationships among peoples.“Every young contestant is a force to promote the civilizations and friendship of the three countries,” he said,“and each entry for the award is a beautiful testimony of the integration of the civilizations and friendship of the three countries.

"I hope that the youths of our three countries will use the Wukong Cup as a platform and use comics as a vehicle to gain a deeper understanding of one another's civilization and national conditions, learn from each other and jointly draw a blueprint for the friendship among China, Japan and South Korea," Du said during the award ceremony. The ceremony was also attended by Wang Fukang, former Chinese Ambassador to Maldives, Kijima Yoshiko, minister of the Embassy of Japan in China, Kim Jin-gon, minister-counsellor of the Embassy of the ROK in China, and Ou Boqian, secretary-general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS), as well as around 150 online participants, including the award winners.

Kijima Yoshiko said in her speech that China, Japan and South Korea have a long history of cultural exchanges, while the Wukong Cup provides a platform for young people. She expressed her hope that youngsters from the three countries can learn from each other and exchange skills through the event, so as to better improve their works.

Kim Jin-gon said that Wukong, the Monkey King from China's ancient classic novel"Journey to the West," is an iconic character that teenagers in all three countries are familiar with."The challenges, faith, courage, responsibility and solidarity shown by Wukong are all integrated into the comic works collected by the Wukong Cup organizers. I hope that through the medium of comics, the common dream shared by young people in China, Japan and South Korea will have a better future."

Chinese diplomat Wang Fukang added that he hoped after the pandemic situation improves, young artists from the three countries can meet in person, conduct skills exchanges and enhance friendships.

After the ceremony, the participating guests also launched a comic talent training program for teenagers from the three countries.

The annual contest is hosted by CICG, and organized jointly by the Center for Asia-Pacific, video platform Bilibili, Japan's Kadokawa Corporation and IIESTAR Inc.