Tsai Chih-chung talks AI and philosophy

In 1984, Tsai founded a cartoon studio with the aspiration of becoming the world's most influential cartoonist. He asked a critical question: What kind of comic could be sold in over 100 countries, endure for thousands of years, sell more than 100 million copies, and be translated into multiple languages worldwide? The answer, he discovered, was comics about Eastern thought.

His initial comic adaptations of ancient Chinese classics included Zhuangzi Shuo (Zhuangzi Speaks) and Laozi Shuo (Laozi Speaks). To date, Tsai has adapted more than 40 Chinese texts, transforming Chinese philosophy into engaging, thought-provoking works with a clear, Zen-inspired style.

These adaptations have been translated into 27 languages and published in 67 countries and regions, with total sales surpassing 60 million copies, making them among the most widely read Chinese comics globally.

In 1990, after settling in Vancouver, Tsai began working on a comic version of the Yi Jing. However, he paused at the 27th chapter due to difficulty understanding many parts of this arcane ancient Chinese text. He resumed the project in 2011, with the Chinese-language version published in 2020.

When drawing the illustrations for Yi Jing, Tsai explained that he first deconstructed each hexagram from the ancient divination text into its six lines. After drawing the hexagrams, he incorporated interpretations by Confucius and by Shao Yong from the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Shao's work, Huangji Jingshi, is derived from studying the Yi Jing.