Tian tian xiang shang (天天向上),

ca. late 2000s–early 2010s

ca. late 2000s–early 2010s

Danny Yung, was a founding member of the Basement Workshop (1970-1986), the first Asian American arts and cultural organization on the East Coast in NYC, and Artistic Director at the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Arts. He began creating little boy caricatures and drawing comics in the 1950s as a primary school student in Hong Kong. According to the artist, “In those years, the slogan ‘tian tian xiang shang’ 天天向上 (“Every day we look up”) [coined in 1951 by Mao Zedong], was written on the wall of every primary school in China...the slogan was written in huge characters stretching over the entire front wall, and it appeared quite threatening to the schoolchildren."

After developing the caricatures and comics for 33 years, Danny created a simple figure of a boy as a standing bystander or onlooker. In a 2007 Comics Exhibition in Shanghai entitled “Tian Tian Xiang Shang,” he further developed this figure into the form of a standing boy with his finger pointing up and looking skyward, echoing the deep-seated slogan. Danny called this little boy “Tian Tian,” and in subsequent exhibitions and workshops the figure was used to inspire curiosity and creativity in children.