Chinese comic book artist Guo Jingxiong (right) accepts the Guest of Honor award at I-CON29. On the left is his translator.(Courtesy of Flag Studios, LLC flagstudios.com)

NEW YORK—Mr. Guo Jingxiong has won the Guest Artist of Honor Award and the Viewer's Choice Award at I-CON29 in SUNY Stony Brook University this past week. I-CON29 is the largest convention of comics and cartoons in the northeastern United States.

“Daxiong,” as he is known to his fans all over the world, said in his acceptance speech that this was the first award he has received in the United States. He attributed his creative abilities to his spiritual teacher Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong: “I am from China, and there is no freedom to be creative in China. The Google incident has shown the world that the Chinese people have no freedom of information. Neither my personal belief nor my works were tolerated by the communist regime, and thus, I had to seek exile in the United States.”

Guo Jingxiong. (Wei Junyu)

While in China, Daxiong set up his own studio, “Qi,” in 1999 (www.qicartoon.com) and won the Gold Award in a national comic-book competition in 2000. Focusing his work on traditional Chinese culture, he published over a hundred books based on ancient literature over the next few years. Soon, Qi had become one of the most productive studios in China. In 2002, Mr. Guo was invited to become a guest professor at the Modern Media School of the Jilin College of the Arts.

In 2006, Daxiong, then 31, won Le Grand Prix at the prestigious Angoulême International Comics Festival and was the first Chinese artist to be signed by Soleil Productions, the largest European publisher of comic books. Chinese media dubbed him the “King of Comics.”

Daxiong says the source for his creations is Chinese culture in all its breadth and profundity. He has abundant knowledge of traditional attire, rankings of nobility, architectural styles, and life styles of different dynasties. He jokes that his brain is like “a moving library.”

From Violence to Simplicity

Daxiong said that he used to be angry at society and was involved in violence and substance abuse. He fell into extremes and lived an empty and lonely life. He began to look for meaning in western and eastern philosophy and religion. He learned about Falun Gong in 1996, and that was when his life changed. “I became a simple and down-to-earth person. I realized the importance of self-control. People around me started to like me and approach me,” he said.

A sample of Daxiong's cartoons about the Sanlu's melamine-contaminated milk scandal. (The Epoch Times)

Though it is a peaceful practice that is beneficial to Chinese society, Falun Gong has been targeted by a persecution launched in July of 1999 by then-communist party leader Jiang Zemin.

When the persecution began, Daxiong went to his local city hall to appeal for the practice and was promptly arrested for “disturbing social order.” His workplace was able to bail him out, but he remained disturbed by the injustice. He then began to clarify the facts of the persecution of Falun Gong with his drawings.

On Nov. 19, 2007, Daxiong was again arrested because of his adherence to Falun Gong. This time officers from the Changchun National Security Bureau tortured him to find out his activities and contacts in the United States.

Liu Xiang's pressure: At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liu Xiang represented China in the men's 110m hurdles. His number was 1356 and the Chinese official media said that he represented the 1.3 billion people and 56 ethnicities in China. (The Epoch Times)

He was put on trial on December 16 for “sabotaging” the legal system, libel, and insult. Later he was transferred to the Shanghai National Security Bureau and locked in prison until Dec. 22 when he was forced to pay 100,000 yuan (US$15,000) for bail.

Since the sentencing phase of Daxiong’s trial was still pending, he would have been imprisoned had it not been for the up-coming Beijing Olympics, and the attention of the French government and his publisher to his situation. To avoid further persecution from the Chinese regime, he fled to the United States.

A sample of Daxiong's cartoon about people quitting the Chinese Communist Party. (The Epoch Times)

A sample of Daxiong's cartoon about Google refused to allow information censorship. (The Epoch Times)

Daxiong's art work. (The Epoch Times)

Read the original Chinese article.