Sapajou was the artistic nom de plume of Georgii Avksentievich Sapojnikoff; one-time Lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Army. He was a graduate of the Aleksandrovskoe Military School in Moscow; and saw action in World War I; in which he was gravely wounded. As a result of his wounds; which left him with a pronounced limp for the rest of his life; he was invalided out of the army; and it was at this time that he began to take an interest in the visual arts; enrolling in evening classes at the Academy of Arts. The year 1920 found him; like so many of his compatriots; a refugee in Shanghai.

From 1925 onwards; Sapajou was on the staff of the North-China Daily News; probably the most important and prestigious English language newspaper in the Far East; and one that was considered the mouthpiece of the largely British establishment of the International Settlement in Shanghai. Through his daily cartoons published over an almost unbroken period of some fifteen years; Sapajou became well known not only in Shanghai but also internationally. The publishing house of Kelly & Walsh produced several albums of his sketches of Shanghai life; and his illustrations appeared in a number of contemporary books on Chinese subjects.