On September 28, 2020, the 17^th China Animation & Comic Competition Golden Dragon Award Ceremony raised its curtain at the exhibition hall of Dongfang Hotel in Guangzhou. ‘The Village Teacher’, presented by FT Culture, novella of the same title,  script and illustration by Zhang Xiaoyu, swept three major awards for comics: Best Story Comic Award (Gold Prize), Best Writer Award and Best Painting Skill Award. This is the first time for one comic work won these three awards at the same time.

Trophy and certificates for The Village Teacher

Golden Dragon Award is one of the two most influential awards for animation & comics in China. It is regarded as the highest honor for Chinese original animation & comics, equivalent to ‘Oscar’ for artists and works in this field.

Announcing winners for The Best Story Comic Award (from left to right: Silver, Gold and Bronze)

Gold Prize went to The Village Teacher

Subsequently, the 13^th China International Comic Festival × Animation & Games Festival (CICF×AGF) opened, which is one of the two major conventions for ACG in China. As the only two original comic exhibitors, FT Culture brought the ‘Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin's Sci-Fi Classics Original Painting Exhibit’ and commercial products to visitors in southern China. From Oct. 1^st to Oct. 5^th, our stand welcomed a lot of people to stop and see.

Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin's Sci-Fi Classics Original Painting Exhibit at CICF×AGF

FT Culture stand welcomed 3000+ visitors during the festival

Cosers like our stand, too

Earlier in September, China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) was held in Beijing, with 22,000 companies and organizations from 148 countries and regions attending online or offline. The fair covers twelve major services trade field, including transportation, construction, finance, culture, etc.

In the ‘5G reading to Reality’ stand, ‘Yuanyuan’s Bubbles’ was presented to visitors via 270° screen and VR glasses. By clicking the book, you’ll see the huge soap bubbles fly over from the distant ocean, become bigger and bigger over your head, then finally burst, spreading into countless colorful dreams in the arid northwest. The content of the book is firstly converted into a panoramic dynamic digital product through 3D modeling, and then through a 270-degree large screen/VR glasses to form a visual effect that is as shocking as watching a movie. Thanks to 5G technology, the boundary between books and multimedia products have been further broken, bringing people a brand-new and immersive reading experience of comics and picture books.

Visitors experience 5G reading of Yuanyuan’s Bubbles at 2020 CIFTIS

In addition, FT Culture also jointly showcased commercial products based on the graphic novels with its partners, including stationery, T-shirts, hats, stickers, and co-branded sports shoes, etc. There are also co-branded mooncakes and board game in crowdfunding.

Part of licenced products of Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin's Sci-Fi Classics

Embracing fifteen graphic novels based on Liu Cixin’s works, the whole collection are created by twenty-eight international comic artists from thirteen countries. They are expected to be completed by July, 2021, after four years’ creation. The first four books, including ‘The Wandering Earth’, ‘The Village Teacher’, ‘Sea of Dreams’ and ‘Yuanyuan’s Bubbles’, have been published in China in April. E-comic has been serialized on Boodo, an ACG community of Tencent. ‘We are glad to share the latest updates about our Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics. English, French and German editions would be available in 2021. We are honored to have Delcourt Group (France), Splitter Verlag (Germany), Head of Zeus (UK) and Skyhorse Publishing (USA) as our partners in respective markets, bringing this fantastic collection to more readers’, said by Kelly Song, COO of FT Culture.

First series: The Wandering Earth, The Village Teacher, Sea of Dreams, Yuanyuan’s Bubbles

Simplified Chinese Edition

Not long ago, Netflix has ordered a drama series based on the Three-Body trilogy，with an awesome all-star production team. Liu Cixin is having a moment. His works have been or are to be adapted into comics, stage shows, movies, and TV series. New and existing fans all over the world are attracted by the SF world he created via various forms. And we are looking forwarding to see more and more high quality works and contents.

Delcourt Group

Established in 1986, Delcourt Group is the leading independent publisher of French-language comics, with an extensive collection of more than 9,500 titles, spanning all target segments.

Splitter Verlag

Splitter has been publishing Franco-Belgian, European and American comics and graphic novels since 2006. Now it’s one of the biggest comic publishers in German language market.

Head of Zeus

Head of Zeus is an award-winning independent publisher of genre fiction, narrative nonfiction and children’s books. Head of Zeus have published 93 (and counting) #1 bestsellers around the world, won 21 literary prizes and two industry awards. 

Skyhorse Publishing

Skyhorse Publishing opened doors in 2006. With fifty-two New York Times bestsellers, more than 9,000 books on our backlist, and over 750 titles planned over the next year, Skyhorse has shown no signs of slowing down since 2011, when Publishers Weekly called it the fastest-growing small publisher in America.