Cartoon hero honored in city where he enchanted readers with his action-packed life, He Qi reports in Shanghai.

All of the Tintin characters feature in a picture on show at the Tintin and Herge exhibition in Shanghai. (HE QI / CHINA DAILY)

It is arguably the most famous quiff rendered on paper and it first appeared in public on Jan 10, 1929. On that date, Tintin, a young reporter, who wears knickerbocker trousers and keeps a loyal white fox terrier Milou, was born in Brussels.

The Adventures of Tintin saw him start his adventures by taking a train to the Soviet Union accompanied by Milou－named Snowy in the English version of the cartoon strip. From Moscow to China, from the sands of the Sahara to the glaciers of the Qomolangma (known as Mount Everest in the West), from the Amazon rainforests to the Scottish highlands, Tintin has trotted the globe in pursuit of the baddies.

Before the advent of television, the international expeditions undertaken by the tireless reporter opened young people's eyes to countries, cultures, landscapes, and natural phenomena which were still relatively unheard of.

Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (1907-83), also known by his pen name Herge, was the man behind the creation.

It's no exaggeration to say that Herge dedicated his entire life to the creation of the 24 book series after the publication of the first adventures in Le Petit Vintieme, the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle (The Twentieth Century).

The collection has been translated into more than 70 languages and published in more than 100 countries and regions, with more than 230 million copies sold. And time has not diminished the cartoon hero's popularity.

A visitor with a portrait of Herge. (HE QI / CHINA DAILY)

Jointly held by the Power Station of Art and the Herge Museum in Belgium, the world's largest Tintin-themed exhibition, Tintin and Herge, opened in Shanghai on Aug 5 and will run until October. The exhibition not only presents original drawings of Tintin at different stages, but also focuses on the artistic life of Herge, including his creative manuscripts, notes, paintings and personal art collection.

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Chinese version of The Adventures of Tintin. Therefore, there is no more suitable time to hold a large-scale Tintin-themed exhibition," says Wang Yue, the promoter and representative curator of the exhibition, who opened the country's first Tintin flagship store in 2019.

The 10 exhibition areas cover 1,600 square meters, says Wang, China representative for Moulinsart, the company set up to promote the works of Herge and also the intellectual property owner of The Adventures of Tintin.

"Tintin fans who are interested in literature may not be able to do it all in three hours," Wang says.

Herge, the person behind Tintin, led a full and colorful life, Wang adds.

The part of the exhibition most familiar to Chinese fans is likely to be the "Lessons from the East "section of the fifth volume, The Blue Lotus.

In this installment of Tintin's adventures, he finds himself in Shanghai. There he meets and befriends young Chinese orphan Chang Chong-chen. With Chang's help, Tintin successfully crushes the plot of an international opium smuggling gang.

A visitor with a portrait of Herge. (HE QI / CHINA DAILY)

In fact, Chang, the fictional character, was based on the Chinese artist Zhang Chongren, a real friend of Herge's and a famous sculptor born in Shanghai.

In 1934, when Zhang was studying at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, he was introduced to Herge and helped him with The Blue Lotus.

"With The Blue Lotus I discovered a new world," Herge told French writer Numa Sadoul in 1971. "I was learning about a civilization I knew nothing about, while at the same time becoming aware of the need for a certain degree of accountability. From that point on, I set out to really research and take an interest in the people and countries I was sending Tintin to explore, so I could present them honestly to my readers. I owe it all to my meetings with Mr Chang, who also gave me a better understanding of the meaning of friendship, poetry and nature," Herge added.

Their friendship continued and is still of great significance to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Belgium and China, as well as with the rest of the world.

"With the joint efforts of these two young artists of the same age, The Blue Lotus－the great masterpiece in the history of the world's comics－was born," says Bruno Jans, consul general at Consulate General of Belgium in Shanghai.

"It stands for cultural exchanges and the friendship between China and Belgium from as early as the 1930s."

"In Belgium, we say that readers of Tintin are 7 to 77 years old, meaning that anybody can enjoy reading Tintin," Jans adds. He is a case in point, having read the comic when he was 7. He believes that many European readers first learned about China by reading The Blue Lotus.

"This friendship not only symbolizes the friendship between China and Belgium but also symbolizes the friendship among the people of the world," he says.

Today, Tintin is 92 years old. But he is still a well-known hero, influencing the childhood of younger generations.

"Tintin is a brave, friendly and adventurous person. He went to so many countries, met so many friends and experienced so many adventures. The textual research of all the details was not accidental but formed by a series of efforts," Wang says.

"Although the author died in 1983 and no new stories have been created, this comic is still popular that today, in 2021, there are still many people who love Tintin," Wang says.

Contact the writer at heqi@chinadaily.com.cn