Jointly held by the Power Station of Art and the Herge Museum in Belgium, the world's largest Tintin-themed exhibition, Tintin and Herge, opened in Shanghai on Aug 5 and will run until October. The exhibition not only presents original drawings of Tintin at different stages, but also focuses on the artistic life of Herge, including his creative manuscripts, notes, paintings and personal art collection.

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Belgium and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Chinese version of The Adventures of Tintin. Therefore, there is no more suitable time to hold a large-scale Tintin-themed exhibition," says Wang Yue, the promoter and representative curator of the exhibition, who opened the country's first Tintin flagship store in 2019.

The 10 exhibition areas cover 1,600 square meters, says Wang, China representative for Moulinsart, the company set up to promote the works of Herge and also the intellectual property owner of The Adventures of Tintin.

"Tintin fans who are interested in literature may not be able to do it all in three hours," Wang says.

Herge, the person behind Tintin, led a full and colorful life, Wang adds.

The part of the exhibition most familiar to Chinese fans is likely to be the "Lessons from the East "section of the fifth volume, The Blue Lotus.

In this installment of Tintin's adventures, he finds himself in Shanghai. There he meets and befriends young Chinese orphan Chang Chong-chen. With Chang's help, Tintin successfully crushes the plot of an international opium smuggling gang.

In fact, Chang, the fictional character, was based on the Chinese artist Zhang Chongren, a real friend of Herge's and a famous sculptor born in Shanghai.