Ange Zhang (; born March 19, 1951) is a Chinese-born Canadian illustrator and animation artist. The son of Guang Weiran, a famous Chinese writer, he was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and studied at the

Central Academy of Drama The Central Academy of Drama () is a national public drama school in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education. The academy is part of the Double First-Class Construction. Information The sch ...

in China and the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta, Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the Performing arts, performing and fine arts, as well as leadership trai ...

in Canada. Zhang grew up during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. He joined the

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

but was later sent to a farm in

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

province. There he discovered painting and drawing. He later worked as a set designer for the National Opera Theatre in Beijing. Zhang was working as a set designer at the Banff Centre for the Arts at the time of the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

. The Canadian government offered asylum to visitors from China at that time and Zhang decided to accept that offer. He holds Canadian citizenship. While he was working on set design for the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...

, he met

Ken Nutt Ken Eric Nutt (born November 29, 1951), who uses the pen name Eric Beddows, is a Canadian artist and illustrator of children's books. His pseudonym combines his middle name with his mother's maiden name. He has used it for his illustrative work si ...

at a drawing class in Stratford. Nutt suggested that he try illustrating children's books. That led to him illustrating W. D. Valgardson's book ''Thor'', which won a Mr. Christie's Book Award. He married Pingna Sheng; the couple have one son Eric.

Selected work

* ''To the Mountains'' (1995) text by Diana Wieler * ''The Fishing Summer'' (1997) text by Teddy Jam (pseudonym for Matt Cohen) * ''Red Land, Yellow River: A Story from the Cultural Revolution'' (2004), finalist for the Norma Fleck Award and for the

Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature The Governor General's Award for English-language children's writing is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a children's book written in English. It is one of four children's book awards among the Governor Ge ...

and winner of the Bologna Ragazzi award for young adult non-fiction at the

Bologna Children's Book Fair The Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. Since 1963, it is held yearly for four days in March or April in Bologna, Italy. It is the meeting place for al ...

References

1951 births Living people Canadian children's book illustrators Chinese children's book illustrators Canadian animators Chinese animators Chinese emigrants to Canada 20th-century Chinese illustrators 20th-century Canadian illustrators 21st-century Chinese illustrators {{Canada-animator-stub