Attendant cartoonist shows the humorous side of life on the track

A picture is worth a thousand words and Wang Chao's drawings show how apt that phrase is.

When he graduated from high school, he passed the entrance exam for the College of Fine Arts at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music. But then his schoolboy dream of becoming an artist ended.

"I had to give up because of finances," said the 28-year-old native of Chengdu, Sichuan province.

But Wang remains an artist and has an appreciative audience who track his progress every day.

An attendant on Train T7/8 on the Chengdu-Beijing route, he draws cartoons on the train to amuse both colleagues and passengers and communicate to foreigners.

Wang started work on the train three years ago.

According to the Chengdu Railway Bureau, the train will carry 11.3 million passengers to Sichuan during the 40-day Spring Festival travel season, 710,000 more than last year.

"A hard-seat compartment has room for 118 passengers. During the Spring Festival, there could be between 150 and 180 people in any compartment. Many passengers have to stand," Wang said.

The situation inspired him to draw a cartoon showing how a normal train became "fat" during the Spring Festival.

Zhao Dan, a young colleague of Wang, is a huge fan. "The cartoons are so amusing that crew members and passengers pass it round," and you can feel the mood lighten, Zhao said.

Sometimes, overcrowding on the train can lead to angry situations. "Passengers are frustrated if other passengers refuse to stop smoking and throw melon seeds, peanut shells and rubbish onto the floor. Wang was beaten on the chest when he tried to stop a drunk passenger from hitting other passengers," Zhao said.

But Wang likes depicting the positive side of life in his cartoons.

After he saw a little girl brushing her teeth and smiling to the mirror, Wang did a cartoon showing the girl with ponytails. On the top is the sun saying "Good Morning" to the girl.

"When I was shown the cartoon in the compartment where crew members slept after a tough shift, I could not help smiling, too," said Liu Fang, another colleague.

There are often foreigners on the train and the cartoons can help communication.

Once when the train was leaving Sichuan for neighboring Shaanxi province, it was stopped for more than two hours by a landslide. A young American couple who could not speak a single word of Chinese were anxious and did not know what happened.

Wang was led by the conductor to their compartment where his artwork helped explain the situation.

The cartoons have been a hot topic on the micro blog of the Chengdu Railway Bureau, said information officer Zhu Linlin.

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn