Our Notes & References

Most likely the first separate Russian edition of a coloured graphic novel.

Rare: we couldn’t trace any copy of this edition in US or European holdings via OCLC.

The story by Chinese children’s writer Yan Wenjing (1915–2005) in this adaptation by Zhang Zaixue centers around the timid girl Dindin and the ant Red Brows, who helps her find courage. Originally published as a graphic novel in Beijing in 1954, it appeared in Russian and English translations in 1957.

The book belongs to the lianhuanhua genre—small, palm-sized picture books with sequential illustrations that were popular in 20th-century China and laid the groundwork for modern manhua (Chinese comics). The illustrations were created by Liu Jiyou (Liu Chi-Yu, 1918–83), a noted Chinese artist trained at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts and later director of the Federation of Chinese Artists.

In the late 1950s, at least four Chinese graphic novels were translated and published in the USSR by the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing. These editions followed the 1956 plenary session of the China Writers’ Association, which promoted the active distribution of Chinese literary works abroad, including children’s books—an initiative that spurred a wave of new writing by young authors.

Comic book culture, however, was largely absent in the Soviet Union throughout the 20th century. While occasional satirical or children’s stories appeared in graphic form in periodicals, the medium gained real popularity only in the 2010s. Before that, the prevailing illustrated tradition was the lubok—a single-sheet pictorial story that served as Russia’s early forerunner to comics.