Cai Gao (illustrator)

Cai Gao (Chinese: 蔡皋; born 1946) is a Chinese children’s book illustrator, author and editor. She was the first Chinese illustrator to win the Golden Apple Award at the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava and has twice been shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.^[1]

Born in Changsha, Hunan province, she grew up in a three‑generation household as the eldest of five sisters, an upbringing that strongly influenced the family warmth and folk culture in her later work. After nearly twelve years teaching in a rural village in Hunan, she began contributing illustrations and covers to children’s magazines and published her first award‑winning book “The Beautiful Garden” in 1980. In 1982 she joined Hunan Children’s Publishing House as an editor, while continuing to illustrate. She became an important advocate for original Chinese picture books at a time when translated titles dominated the market.^[2]

Cai is best known for picture books that adapt Chinese folklore and classical literature, including “Bao’er, The Fox Spirit in the Abandoned Garden”, “The Story of Peach Blossom Spring”, and collections of folk tales from China, Korea, and Japan. Her illustrations draw on classical Chinese ink painting, folk art motifs, and impressionistic color to depict rural life, traditional festivals, and the relationship between humans and nature.^[3]