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The 2025 Feng Zikai Art Week takes place in Jiaxing. [Photo/WeChat account: jxfabu]

The 2025 Feng Zikai Art Week opened on Sept 28 in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province, announcing its original essay award list and 13 activities.

The event gathered award-winning authors, jury members, Feng Zikai's family, and local literature enthusiasts to mark the 50th anniversary of Feng's passing, the 40th anniversary of the reconstruction of his former residence, and the centenary of his first cartoon.

Born in Tongxiang, a county-level city in Jiaxing, Feng was widely respected for his achievements in painting, literature, translation, music, and calligraphy, earning him the title of the "father of Chinese cartoons".

This year's biennial essay awards aimed to highlight excellence in Chinese prose, attracting 7,160 submissions worldwide. Thirty authors were selected for gold, silver, and young writer awards, with local writer Dan Ji winning gold and Cao Bai receiving silver.

The event also unveiled the Feng Zikai Celebrity Atlas, a multidimensional knowledge map that traces key milestones such as Feng's first essay and cartoons and visualizes his connections with cultural figures, including Li Shutong and Ye Shengtao.

Jiaxing regards its renowned figures as key cultural heritages, with nearly 100 notable individuals recorded in the Encyclopedia of China, including Wang Guowei, Jin Yong, Mao Dun, and Feng himself.