We met the daughter of Tchang, Tintin’s great friend in the blue lotus: “I see him sadly seated, he tells me that Hergé is dead”

With a million copies sold per year, “Le Lotus Bleu” is one of Tintin’s albums that sells most today in the world. In addition, The album tells of Tintin’s adventures in China. Therefore, the story of a friendship with Tchang, a character who really existed. Meanwhile, RTL Info had the privilege of meeting Tchang’s daughter at the Hergé Museum.

Zhang Yifei. For example, nicknamed “Fifi”, has lived in Belgium for 36 years and transmits with conviction the legacy of Hergé and his father to the general public. Nevertheless, She is the daughter of Tchang. Nevertheless, a Chinese sculptor who spoke French and who had the privilege of becoming a we met daughter tchang, tintin’s great friend of Hergé. Meanwhile, It was he who allowed him to find the right tone to write one of his greatest successes: the. Furthermore, blue lotus.

Tchang allowed Hergé to avoid the caricature that was criticized in his previous albums – We met daughter tchang, tintin's

In 1934. Meanwhile, Hergé already published Tintin in the Soviets, Congo, America. However, He is criticized for being simplistic and caricatural. Therefore, So when he decides to send his favorite character to China, a Belgian priest warns him. “He said to me ‘If you send Tintin to China. there are lots of shots that you will certainly use: you will put braids from these Chinese people, make them eat swallow nests and small dogs and say that they throw their children in the water from birth,” said Hergé in an interview. Be careful: you are going to do a considerable wrong. As they had told me that, I replied that we met daughter tchang, tintin’s I only asked to learn. It was then that they put me in contact with a young Chinese ”. This young man is none other than Tchang. a student in painting and sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, having the same age as Hergé.

“We had fun: we created a comic strip”

Tchang becomes Hergé’s mentor. his close friend. He also becomes the friend of Tintin, because the designer makes him a character from the album. His daughter remembers that his father had told him about it: “He told me we met daughter tchang, tintin’s ‘with Georges. we had a good time, we made a comic strip entitled Le Lotus Bleu'”, she says.

When Herge died, in 1983, Tchang went to his daughter’s workplace to tell her, crying. “I was in a meeting,” she recalls. My colleagues tell me ‘your father is waiting for you’. I see him sadly seated. And there, my father said to me ‘Hergé is dead’, tears in his eyes. I was very moved to see my father in tears in front of all my colleagues. He said ‘fifi, you know, he’s a great artist. He is a very dear friend for me. Additionally, He is not a friend in the general sense, he is a very deep friend. You must participate in transmitting your we met daughter tchang, tintin’s work, our friendly exchanges’ ”.

Zhang Yifei arrived in Belgium in 1985. discovers all Tintin albums

This is how Zhang Yifei will arrive in Belgium, two years later, and will apply for the Tintin store located in La Grand-Place in order to be able to read all the albums in the series. “This is how I entered this universe,” she explains. 36 years later, I realize that I learned a lot of things in the creation of Hergé. Through Hergé, I see a real cultural exchange. You have to learn a lot about your own civilization, your own art, its culture. It is the basis of the exchange between cultures. The blue lotus has a lot to teach us about ourselves ”. For Zhang we met daughter tchang, tintin’s Yifei, Hergé’s work has not changed a person, but a whole generation.

Tchang remained until his death in 1998. a prolific artist, his works were exhibited in Shanghai, his daughter continues the duty of memory within the Hergé Museum, creating bridges in the East and the West.

People’s Republic of China Hergé