On September 28, 1992 (the third of the Lunar calendar in early September), "Father of the Three Mao" Zhang Lemping passed away.

At 6 o'clock on the evening of September 28th, 1992, white sheets gently covered his face, and sorrow enveloped the whole ward. Zhang Leping, a cartoonist and "father of Sanmao", spent 82 years in Shanghai. Sanmao's Record of Joining the Army, Sanmao's Wandering Story, Sanmao Welcomes Liberation, Sanmao Learns from Lei Feng, Sanmao Loves Science, etc. His images of Sanmao have entered thousands of households and are deeply loved by generations of Chinese readers.

Zhang Leping was born on November 10, 1910 in Haiyan, Zhejiang. When I was young, I worked as an apprentice, studied monthly cards and New Year pictures, and then made a living by painting advertisements. He also creates cartoons. In 1937, he joined the Anti-Japanese Comic Propaganda Team until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. In 1946, he participated in the launch of Shanghai Art Writers Association and Shanghai Cartoonists Association in Shanghai. After 1949, he worked as a professional painter in Shanghai Branch of China Artists Association, Liberation Daily and Shanghai Children's Publishing House. After 1980s, he served as consultant of China Artists Association and editor-in-chief of Comic World. His cartoons are known for political satire. Since 1935, he has created a long comic strip "Sanmao", which profoundly shows the miserable life of street children in old China with the typical image of Sanmao, exposes the unreasonable social system, and has a strong response among readers. Later, it was adapted into feature films and puppet films. After 1949, he also painted a series of paintings of Sanmao's experience in the new era, and published more than 10 cartoon collections of Sanmao's images.