Shandong artist captures Paralympic spirit

Ding Jiao, an artist at a company in Jinan, Shandong province, created a series of comics on the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a way of cheering for the athletes, including the ongoing ones in Beijing.

The 31-year-old Ding, who works for Expo Huachuang Animation Media Co, was encouraged after the company received a letter from the International Paralympic Committee last week inviting her to create a new comic series for the Games.

"We learned that Ding Jiao, the original artist of your company, has created a lot of comics about Paralympic athletes and has played a very positive role in the promotion of Paralympic sports," the letter said.

"We hope more people will get excited about the Paralympic Games through your work," it said.

Ding created a series of 96 comics for the Chinese athletes who attended the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games last year. These comics were popular and were collected and forwarded by a lot of athletes, the company said.

"I'm also physically challenged, so I know how hard it is for physically challenged people to fight for their dreams," Ding said.

"I hope to depict with my pens the happiest and most inspiring moments of the Chinese athletes and spread the Paralympic spirit."