In the city of Gaoping, North China's Shanxi Province, a new cultural gem, the Tsai Chih-chung Art Museum welcomed its first visitors on Wednesday. The museum inauguration marks a promising step in the promotion of cross-Straits cultural exchanges through Chinese culture heritage. 

A panoramic view of the Tsai Chih-chung Art Museum in Gaoping, Shanxi Province Photo: chinanews.com

Tsai, a renowned cartoonist, was born in Changhua county, central west Taiwan in 1948. Starting from the 1980s, he created a series of Chinese comic books on ancient Chinese classics, including Zhuangzi Speaks, The Tao Speaks. Known for his minimalist yet profound artistic style, Tsai's illustrations bring philosophical concepts and Buddhist teachings to life and infuse humor into Chinese literary classics. 

Covering a space of 55,000 square meters, the Tsai Chih-chung Art Museum project commenced in July 2023 with an investment of 300 million yuan ($41.58 million). 

Some of Tsai Chih-chung's masterpieces are on display in the Art Museum. Photo: chinanews.com

Envisioned as a homage to classical Chinese comics, the museum integrates digital performances, immersive experiences and thematic research to offer visitors a modern artistic journey through holographic images and digital technology. Visitor have an opportunity for in-depth exploration, immersing themselves completely in Tsai's comic works. 

The museum showcases a total of 317 copies of Tsai's creative masterpieces from the past seven decades, making it the world's largest collection and exhibition center of the cartoonist.

Beyond its role as a cultural repository, the Tsai Chih-chung Art Museum symbolizes Gaoping's commitment to urban development and cross-Straits cultural exchanges. 

Besides, the museum's opening heralds a new prosperous era for Gaoping, where art, culture and tourism integrate to shape new sectors that in turn will help promote the county-level city's creativity and the power of cultural exchange, local officials said.