Zheng Ming-jin

Zheng Ming-jin was born on 7 June 1932 in Liuzhangli, in Taipei, during Japanese rule. His father ran a rice mill and his mother looked after the home, and he was the fourth of three sons and three daughters.

He attended Da'an Public School. In his first year there, his eldest brother bought him a picture book of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, published by the Japanese firm Kodansha. He later called it the first picture book of his life, joking that it was the same book the Japanese emperor had read as a child, and said it began his love of illustrated books. He went on to the junior section of Taipei's Fourth Middle School, now Chien Kuo High School, and in 1949 entered the art department of Taipei Normal School. In 1951 his watercolour Persimmons was selected for the Taiwan Provincial Art Exhibition.

After graduating in 1952, Zheng taught art at primary schools including Shiding, Longshan and Ximen, retiring from teaching in 1977 after 25 years. With fellow graduates of the Taipei Normal School art department he founded a research society for children's art education, which used experiment and research to bring a new approach to primary school art. His own paintings won prizes, including an award at the Taiyang Art Exhibition for the oil painting Countryside, and he represented Taiwan several times at international art education conferences.

At the same time he became one of the builders of Taiwan's picture book culture. He illustrated Ten Brothers in 1968, and later books such as The Little Whale Swims to the Sea (1975) and two collaborations with the writer Lin Liang, The Little Paper Boat Sees the Sea and a book of animal rhymes (1976), became classics. In all he published close to 50 illustrated books and picture books, including later works such as The Cattle Market (2007) and Please Come to My Hometown, written by Lin Hai-yin (2007).

He was equally important as a promoter. He worked on the editing of children's art periodicals, founded a small press to publish a collection of writing and pictures by children from 46 countries, and served as an adviser to the publishers Echo (Hansheng) and Taiying, planning collections of the best picture books from around the world. He chose and translated foreign picture books, including Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and wrote a series on outstanding picture book illustrators. His work drew more publishers into the field and helped shape a generation of Taiwanese illustrators.

Zheng was married to Wu Hsing-yun (吳幸芸) and had two sons. Even in his nineties he kept a lively interest in children's art and theatre. At the 2025 Golden Tripod Awards the culture minister recalled him describing a modelling clay with which he planned to make 100 little monsters, each painted a different colour, as presents for his grandchildren.

Zheng Ming-jin died peacefully in his sleep at about 3.30 in the morning on 26 October 2026, aged 94. Taiwanese reports gave his age as 95, following the traditional way of counting age. No specific cause of death was given. The Children's Literature Society of the Republic of China announced his death on 28 October.

His son said his father had repeatedly asked to leave quietly, and that, in keeping with his wishes, there would be no funeral service. His son passed on his father's view that he had been happy to have everyone's company throughout his life and to focus on what he loved, and that leaving was not an end but the start of another journey. He was to be laid to rest in the family plot at Chin Pao San cemetery in New Taipei.

On 29 October the Ministry of Culture expressed its condolences, describing his deep influence on the development of Taiwanese picture books, and said it would ask the President to issue a formal commendation honouring him.

Zheng is regarded as the godfather of Taiwanese picture books. As a teacher, editor, translator, adviser and illustrator, he helped bring the world's picture books to Taiwan and encouraged Taiwanese artists to create their own. The jury of the 49th Golden Tripod Awards said he had devoted his life to the development of Taiwanese picture books, setting an example for their creation and promotion, and noted that he was still working with passion and fresh ideas in his nineties. Ten Brothers and The Little Paper Boat Sees the Sea remain among the best known Taiwanese children's books, and many of his former students became leading illustrators in their own right.