Zhang Weijun, the cartoonist's youngest son, recalls.

"When Sanmao's stories were first serialized in 1935, he hadn't roamed on the street and joined the army yet. He was just an average kid living in a Shanghai lane house. He was pretty naughty and had a sense of justice. "

The birth of Sanmao filled a blank in Chinese comic industry. Adopting the technique of line-drawing, Zhang Leping wrote no dialogues and used the simplest brushworks to reveal the complexity of one's inner world and the chores and trifles in old Shanghai.

But soon, things went downhill, as Japan levied the war of aggression against China. Zhang and other cartoonists left home and travelled around the country to disseminate the message of resistance and patriotism.