Children’s

Books in
CHINA
SPECIAL REPORT 2020

Publishers and authors are harnessing new tech tools and

unique marketing platforms to further expand the market
 Children’s Books in China
Looking Ahead
Chinese children’s publishers are busy analyzing the market,
weighing strategies to reach readers, and building their lists
By Teri Tan
O
nward and upward: that has been the momentum
of Chinese children’s publishing since 2002, the
start of what industry insiders refer to as the
golden era of children’s books in China. Whether
this growth trajectory is due to the sheer number
of people under 18 (about 370 million and
counting) and newborns (14.65 million in 2019) or its rising
middle class (around 400 million people) with higher disposable
income to spend on education and reading,
it is seemingly unstoppable.
The children’s book segment now
accounts for 26.53% of China’s total book
retail market, which is valued at CNY
102.27 billion ($14.71 billion). This is up
from 25.19% in 2018, according to the
Beijing-based OpenBook, a clearinghouse
for publishing statistics. The segment
expanded 18.5% last year, continuing a
growth streak of 19.7%, 28.8%, 21.2%,
and 13.7% for 2015, 2016, 2017, and
2018, respectively.
“A more clearly defined target market
that is also less affected by trends or soci-
etal issues is one reason for the segment’s
continued expansion,” says Sun Zhu, pres-
ident of China Children’s Press & Publication Group (CCPPG),
the country’s largest children’s book publisher in terms of
output, adding that “the segment’s profitability level has always
been much higher than the overall market average, and this has
propelled its growth at a faster clip compared to other book
segments.”
Children’s literature, pop science/science encyclopedias,
comic books, and picture books dominate the Chinese children’s
book market, as do translated titles. “Channel-wise, children’s
cover illustration © haya_p / istock
literature sells the most through bricks-and-mortar bookstores,
while cartoon/comics and picture books do very well at online
stores,” Sun adds, pointing out that “pop science, another fast-
growing segment, is a focus area for many
publishers.” This supplement is published with the support of the publishers
Current bestsellers are mostly older covered in these articles.
titles, Sun says, “which means that it is dif-
ficult for new publications to break through. Cross-disciplinary
titles that combine literature with history and science, or
picture books that offer both elements of science and art, are a
future trend. Given the impact of, and media consciousness of,
advancing technology, contents related to science and tech-
nology in children’s books are set to increase further.”
The demand for higher-quality education coming from par-
ents and educators will also widen the range of reading materials
for children, Sun says. “The types of chil-
dren’s books will increase, which means
that there will be less chance for a specific
genre or category to dominate the market.”
Last year, 26,368 new children’s titles
entered the Chinese book market, down
from 30,940 in the previous year, according
to OpenBook. This drop is partly due to the
government’s intervention in trying to cool
down the booming segment by prolonging
the application process for Cataloging in
Publication (CIP) numbers, which allows
titles to be published in China.
The longer process has a positive impact
on the industry, says Li Xin, vice president
and general editor at Thinkingdom
Children’s Books. “It forces every publisher
to carefully weigh the potential of each new title or rights deal
and see how it fits the current market. It effectively clamps
down on the tendency to just grab any title that comes into our
view. With fewer but more carefully chosen titles, we can then
better organize our resources and plan more focused marketing
campaigns for each one that is published.”
Exploring niche areas and emerging topics
The current Chinese children’s book market is a red ocean, says
Yuan Hai, president of BPG Bright Technology & Culture. “The
focus and competition in popular and bestselling topics are
immense, and this is unsustainable. We need to differentiate our
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M 3
 Children’s Books in China
offerings in order to be competitive. With the creation of our
new company—which blends Beijing Bright Culture
Development Company’s entrepreneurial spirit with Beijing
Publishing Group’s stable operational base—we are on a mis-
sion to create a strong brand, find unique and high-quality
content, and create our own community of readers.”
Big strides made in historical and cultural conservation and
restoration across China, Yuan adds, “present a potential pub-
lishing area. Books on this topic provide an understanding of,
and pride in, our long history. Without the past, there is no
future—as the saying goes—and children need to know their
history and heritage first in order to build their coming years.”
Such books, Yuan says, are tailor-made for museums and
libraries, with immense potential for repackaging, special edi-
tions, and merchandising.
Retooling popular backlist titles to keep pace with market
trends is another consideration, Yuan says. “A case in point: we
have the Little Science Guys: Let’s Play Science Together series,
published in 2014, which can be updated and reworked to
include new experiments that require parental guidance or help.
We will then have a new edition that will foster stronger child-
parent bonding at the same time. Furthermore, repurposing and
customizing content makes perfect sense in these times of fast-
evolving market demands and sales channels.”
Body safety, emotional health, and anti-bullying are emerging
topics in the Chinese children’s book market, says Wen Ting,
vice president of PHEI (Children’s Book Division). “We have
published several titles in these areas, including Cornelia Maude
Spelman’s Your Body Belongs to You and Nancy Carlson’s Loudmouth
George. Parents and educators are also looking for titles that offer
science principles and applications in everyday life. They want
their children to get excited about reading and learning science,
and immediately applying what they have learned.”
For Ji Tong, president of Aurora Publishing House, the
industry’s future is one of variety and enriched formats.
“Intelligent and interactive reading experiences, which we were
unable to provide through paper and ink or produce at reason-
able costs in the past, is now available and viable. In 2018, we
published two picture books—The Chinese Children and The
Chinese New Year—with augmented reality technology to create
interest and enhance the reading experience. Such a combina-
tion of new technology with captivating content is changing
the children’s-publishing industry.”
Over at Thinkingdom Children’s Books, Li’s focus is on pub-
lishing original titles on current trends and issues surrounding
Chinese children. “One such topic revolves around busy parents
who are always on their mobile phones—for work or
personal reasons—and not paying enough attention
to their children,” she says. “This is a universal con-
cern in these times of constant connectivity and
digital distractions. We will launch one picture book
that addresses these issues for ages three to six by Li
Qiaoqiao this October.”
4 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
Developing originals and bringing in
translations
With fierce competition coming from so many children’s book
publishers in the marketplace—nearly 600 at the last count—
profit margins are getting slimmer than ever. Add heavy dis-
counting at bookstores and online retailers, and the situation
gets tougher.
“Picture books such as our recently launched It Might Be an
Apple by Shinsuke Yoshitake would have achieved much higher
sales if they were published five years ago,” Li says. “But that
does not mean that we are slowing down our publishing pro-
gram, investment in rights-buying, or development of originals.
We believe that there are many great titles out there that must
be translated and introduced to our children, and outstanding
talents that need to be nurtured with inspiring ideas.”
The latter has prompted Li and her team to organize a seminar
titled “How to Create a Picture Book” in November. “We invited
several speakers, including picture book author and award-win-
ning illustrator Li Qiaoqiao and upcoming picture book author
Sylvia Liang, and the event was attended by more than 50
people,” Li says, pointing out that “since it was definitely not
the first such event organized by a publishing house, it goes to
show that there are many people out there—authors and illustra-
tors, budding or otherwise—that are interested in creating
original works and wanting to know how to do it better.”
Sally Yan, founder and editor-in-chief at Beijing Dandelion
Children’s Book House, for one, has held several talks on chil-
dren’s books in the past four years. “China has an abundance of
talented illustrators. But they are focused on doing great illus-
trations as an assignment,” she says. “They can draw given the
content, but they don’t do the story or organize the plot. The
same goes for animators. So, if the illustrators and animators do
not get a good editor, the end result is not going to be nice.”
The events her publishing house held, she notes, “are meant to
cultivate an understanding among the creative community—
authors, illustrators, animators, editors, and publishers—so that
the industry can elevate itself and ensure that each player does
his or her part well together. This way, we will have great orig-
inal publications and a cohesive and mature industry.”
Over at CCPPG, “the focus is on developing original titles
and nurturing new talents, and not fixated on sales figures—
but, of course, having both would be nice,” says Sun, whose
company is the Chinese home of Cipollino, Le Petit Nicolas,
Pippi Longstocking, and Tintin. CCPPG published 753 new
titles in 2019, over 85% of which are originals.
One peculiarity in the Chinese publishing world is that
Visit publishersweekly.com/chinachildren2020 to read this
special report online.
Go to publishersweekly.com/chinashowcase to find a list of
titles from Chinese publishers that have been covered in our
current and past reports.
 Children’s Books in China
authors tend to publish their works with several houses at the
same time. And this, says Ji, of Aurora Publishing House, is a
good thing. “At our company, we do not restrict our authors—
even those that we nurtured and who later become well-known—
or insist that they publish all their titles with us. In fact, we
encourage them to go out, spread their wings, try out new genres,
and broaden their experiences working with other publishers.
We treat this like the development of a child: venture out of the
comfort zone, leave the nest, learn new things, and grow.” And
an author’s continuous growth, she adds, “is crucial for the future
of the industry. New ideas must be given the ground to germi-
nate and not be confined to a specific space or entity.”
Reaching the target audience
According to the China Internet Network Information Center,
there are currently 847 million mobile phone users in the
country, and the average download speed of mobile broadband
has increased by about six times compared to five years ago,
while mobile internet fees have dropped by over 90% during
the same period. The faster service at lower costs has boosted
usage growth, with the average monthly mobile data usage per
user reaching 7.2 GB, or 1.2 times the global average. There are
also at least 673.5 million social media users in China right now.
(See “Deploying Tech Tools During the Covid-19 Outbreak,”
p. 12.)
With rising mobile usage and speedy mobile payment, more
online platforms are available to offer publishers different and
effective ways to move their books off the inventory. For savvy
publishers, the best marketing and promotional strategy would
be selecting the most appropriate online platforms from the lot
and picking some of the 70,000-plus bricks-and-mortar book-
stores across China to work with.
The marketing channels and platforms are diversified and
decentralized, says Bai Bing, editor-in-chief of Jieli Publishing
House. “And if used well, they complement each other. We
must study the characteristics of each channel and platform, and
customize our product planning and marketing strategies to
leverage them for maximum returns.” Bai and his team are
experimenting with various marketing tools on Douyin (or
TikTok, as it is known outside of China) while tweaking their
traditional online strategies. “We need to meet the habits and
demands of the post-’90s consumers, which also means paying
more attention to retail experience than ever before.”
Making use of new platforms to reach the target audience is a
no-brainer. “Douyin is tailor-made for titles that benefit from
show and tell,” says Wen, of PHEI (Children’s Books Division).
“For our complex pop-up title Open Up: China, we are able to
showcase the pop-ups of different architectural gems through the
short video presentation. It is great for generating buzz and
directing traffic to our WeChat platform.” Wen’s editorial team
also created an exclusive Dangdang edition for sales through the
online retailer.
Current sales at PHEI (Children’s Books Division) are mostly
through online platforms. “For Jon Woodcock’s Coding series
from DK, for instance, our translator is a Chinese-born Silicon
Valley engineer who has an established WeChat account,”
explains Wen, whose team went on to devise a multipronged
prelaunch marketing campaign. “He is able to share American
educational concepts and study resources as well as tips on
learning English, math, and science with fans. We worked with
him to provide a series of online video courses based on the
books to give children a different learning approach.”
Success came fast: on the launch day in June, more than 6,000
sets of the four-title series were sold (raking in more than CNY
600,000) through the translator’s WeChat account, which also
received 54,000-plus text messages from fans. At the end of the
first month, online sales had exceeded 20,000 sets.
Sun, of CCPPG, and his team also had great success working
with online platforms. They collaborated with Mom Dan’s
Children Book Library and promoted The Nine-Colored Deer
series through the platform’s official WeChat account last
September; sales hit 80,000 copies within two weeks.
But Wen cautions that while some of the new platforms
entering the fray are capable of penetrating hard-to-reach com-
munities and fourth- and fifth-tier cities, they can be unstable
and unsustainable over time. “So it makes sense to spread the
message across multiple channels and focus on building an even
stronger Little Mammoth brand for our children’s list.”
Different channels work for different purposes, says Yuan, of
BPG Bright Technology & Culture. “While social media plat-
forms can bring in big sales numbers, the profit margin is low,
and the effective promotional period tends to be very short. On
the other hand, the bricks-and-mortar channel has the physical
aspects of showing a book while allowing face-to-face interac-
tion with the target audience. Right now, the latest method to
sell and promote titles is through news programs, especially for
event-specific publications. So the most important thing is to
tailor our marketing strategy to fit each product.”
Aurora Publishing House’s distribution department uses
both online and offline methods for marketing and promotion.
“Additionally, we organize numerous author visits to schools
each year for direct author-reader interactions, and these have
proven helpful in encouraging and improving children’s interest
and passion in reading and writing,” Ji says. Last November,
the Aurora team and author Xu Ling held several reading activi-
ties in three primary schools in Qujing City, Yunnan Province,
to promote the newly published series Come On, Xiaobugu.
Eva Song, cofounder of the private library and education
center Acre Junior Library, says this year will see her team
investing more effort in both online and offline marketing and
branding. “We are focused on developing partnerships and alli-
ances with teacher-training centers, kindergarten operators, and
KOLs [key opinion leaders] who are interested in helping their
students or members achieve independent reading and good
reading habits. We will utilize WeChat, Douyin, and parenting
platforms to get the word out about our series.” Even though
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M 5
 Children’s Books in China
her sales and marketing team has barely started, word has
already gotten out: about 1,000 sets of levels 1 and 2 were
already sold, mostly through online retailers.
Over at Thinkingdom Children’s Books, the sales channels
that work best are bricks-and-mortar outlets and online retailers,
since its catalogue is predominantly single titles. “For us, the
ability to introduce a title, invite the author or illustrator to give
a talk, curate specific activities based on the book, and directly
interact with the target readers and buyers is very important,”
says Li, whose team holds at least 30 events every year.
Standing out in the crowded marketplace requires much more
than great books and dedicated marketing and promotional
activities at Beijing Dandelion Children’s Book House.
“Previously, we set up an online sales department to strengthen
our distribution and marketing efforts, especially since many of
our titles are listed at the Dandang online bookstore,” Yan says.
“Now we are revamping our branding strategy to make it
stronger and more effective, and looking into creating spin-offs,
limited editions, and promotional products such as pins and
badges for selected titles. Last November, we had special fridge
magnets made to celebrate the sale of the 10 millionth copy of
a Richard Scarry title.”
Now that mega-malls are major attractions for children and
parents, Yan and her team are also doing more special (and
bigger) events at such venues. “We did five major events last
year, including one on Richard Scarry,” she says. “We are also
increasing our direct interactions with readers to promote orig-
inal publications. While we are known as the Chinese home of
The Magic School Bus, Maurice Sendak, and Mauri Kunnas,
among many others, our original picture books are less publi-
cized and branded properly. Such events offer the opportunity
to build that essential relationship for feedback and future pro-
motional activities.”
Gearing up for 5G
Currently, three of the country’s major telecommunications
companies—China Mobile, China Unicom, and China
Telecom—are pushing forward with the task of setting up new
5G base stations across the country. By 2025, China is expected
to have 600 million 5G users. (During the coronavirus outbreak,
5G-powered cameras and tools were already used to detect body
temperature and deploy rapid medical interventions.)
One immediate impact of superfast 5G technology is on
livestreaming, which often involves a celebrity or host demon-
strating a product and answering questions from a digital audi-
ence. Livestreaming is becoming a very powerful tool in China’s
e-commerce market, which is valued at CNY 440 billion ($63.4
billion), according to a report by Everbright Securities/Coresight.
With 5G technologies that have faster connectivity and wider
bandwidth, the livestreaming experience will offer improved
visual effects and smoother host-audience interactions.
“5G will also bring about new tools that enable unmanned
sales models and enhanced book-vending machines. And since
6 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
consumption of such services will increase over time, the ques-
tion now is how bricks-and-mortar stores are going to adapt to
these changes,” says Bai, of Jieli Publishing House, pointing
out that instantaneous 5G transmission will change the way the
publishing industry disseminates information to target audi-
ences. “These will expand the creative space for audio- and
video-based content and media-rich multiformat publications,
and present publishers with new opportunities.”
Immersive reading experience that requires fast and massive
data transmission will be made possible through 5G networks,
“and this will open up certain segments such as pop science,
where virtual reality can be introduced,” Bai adds, cautioning
that the book industry will be disrupted by 5G, which will
bring about changes to lifestyles, consumer behaviors, and
reading habits. “How will the children’s-publishing industry
adapt to these shifts? For now, the macro perspectives need to
be explored and thought through so that we can understand the
impact on more specific issues, and plan our publishing pro-
grams accordingly.”
Sun, of CCPPG, adds that 5G networks will inject new energy
into digital reading. “With faster transmission speed, lower
latency, and broader bandwidth, the reading experience can be
enhanced by better interactivity, more virtual reality applications,
and highly personalized multiformat content. Changes in pur-
chasing behaviors and consumption due to 5G technologies will
lead to shifts in promotional and marketing activities and strate-
gies. Publishers will also have to enhance their reading platforms
to provide more intelligent and personalized services while new
directions in marketing, promotional, and distribution strategies
will focus on multidirectional, multichannel, and even cross-
border collaborations to achieve traffic aggregation and monetiza-
tion. It will be an exciting time for the publishing industry.”
Fulfilling social responsibility and
promoting reading
Getting books to children in rural and remote areas of China
remains a challenge. But with increased mobile networks
enabling book sales via online channels, the situation is not as
drastic as it was before.
“Rural areas now have the capabilities to purchase books
online, which further reduces the disparity of access to books
between rural and urban areas,” says Bai, of Jieli Publishing
House. “Furthermore, many farming and rural communities
have set up their own bookstores, and the government is fun-
neling more books into these stores. Book consumption levels
in rural areas are increasing.” Bai and his team continue to
distribute titles to rural bookstores even though there is little
profit to be made. “We want to support the reading habits of
rural communities and ensure that they have quality content for
themselves and their children.”
Jieli Publishing House has also organized numerous reading
campaigns in rural areas and smaller cities. Youth Reading in
Beautiful Guangxi was one such campaign, in which authors
 Children’s Books in China
and book experts visited remote and poor areas in Guangxi
Province to talk about reading and encourage reading habits.
“We organize more than 300 talks per year, and local and over-
seas writers and illustrators often join us,” says Bai, whose com- March. At least 40,000 people have read the free e-book.
pany donated more than 5,000 books to rural schools last year.
Ji, of Aurora Publishing House, says that one of her compa-
ny’s main CSR (corporate social responsibility) programs
involves reaching out to border schools and those situated in the
remote and mountainous areas of Yunnan Province. “We do not
have to look far to donate books: schools along the borders with
Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, for instance, are often under-
funded in terms of books and teachers. We make it a point to
visit during school breaks, bring new books, help children with
their reading list, and spend time with them. We also organized
activities such as reading competition to get children interested
in reading and, hopefully, cultivate a lifelong reading habit.
There is much to do for these schools and their children.”
Aurora Publishing House is also actively participating in a
state-run nationwide reading campaign. “As the only pub-
lishing house involved in this provincial event, we are even more
determined than ever to create great books and present them to
the public,” adds Ji, who has invited many of her authors to
participate in the campaign, meet with readers, and read aloud
from their books.
Last June, PHEI (Children’s Books Division) joined the call
to get books out to children in rural areas. “We curated over
1,200 titles for a book-donation drive that is focused on districts is a challenge everywhere in this nation given the number of
in Henan and Sichuan provinces that are under state-led pov-
erty-alleviation programs,” Wen says. “Our goal is to continue
reaching out to children in these areas and ensure that they have
access to books that they need to change and improve their lives.
Addressing the disparity between the rural and urban areas in
terms of book distribution and access is the social responsibility we will have titles with standards and plots that are on par with
of every publisher.”
The company’s launch of Agan
Wins on the WeChat public plat-
form on February 21 was about
fulfilling this responsibility. “We
also want to educate children
about the coronavirus and
cheering on medical professionals
and people over in Wuhan, where
the outbreak started,” Wen notes.
The picture book is about an
infected (and personified) bowl of
hot noodles, Wuhan’s traditional
dish, which remains upbeat
despite being infected and is
focused on its fight against the
virus. “Aside from offering the
e-book version free for readers, Picture book Agan Wins, published during the peak of the
we also invited the hosts of coronavirus outbreak in China, is about educating children
Xueying Reading Club to record about the pandemic.
the audio version,” says Wen, whose editorial team took just 13
days to publish the title despite having to work and collaborate
remotely from home; the hardcover version was published in
Last year, CCPPG carried out one major public-reading
activity and donated nearly CNY 800,000 worth of books and
newspapers to elementary schools in two counties in Shanxi
Province. More than 30 reading-related lectures were also
carried out at the schools.
In the meantime, more spaces for reading should be provided
for children, and more time—and money—needs to be focused
on reading activities, says Song, of Acre Junior Library, whose
team is working to complete a brand-new Chinese-language
graded reading series that helps children start reading indepen-
dently and cultivate good reading habits.
Song is busy building a database of high-quality Chinese
books in the hopes of achieving what Lexile frameworks for
reading and listening do for English books. “We have tens of
thousands of Chinese children’s books in our library, and we are
always trying to match a child’s proficiency and interest with
the right title. With the proliferation of 5G networks and arti-
ficial intelligence, we will be able to recommend a book much
faster and more accurately.”
Such database will help parents and educators choose the
right book for their children. “The problem of not knowing
what to choose and read is not limited to just the big cities. It
titles in circulation in the marketplace,” Song adds, pointing
out that “the Chinese children’s book industry en masse is
moving from sheer quantity to higher quality. The development
of high-quality original titles for the domestic market is only
going to increase by leaps and bounds. And in the near future,
those in the Western world while importing the best from over-
seas for our children.”
For now, with the worst of the
coronavirus outbreak behind
them, Chinese children’s book
publishers are pondering the mag-
nitude of the economic toll on
their hitherto booming segment.
But with many marketing and
promotional activities quickly
shifted online and onto social
media while editorial processes
and strategies were carried out
remotely, much of the damage has
been mitigated. In this battle,
their resilience and tenacity are the
bright spots. As to how the seg-
ment holds up at the end of the
day, the reading community will
have its say.  ■
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M 7
 Children’s Books in China

Acre Junior Library

A
new entrant to the industry, the three-year-old private
library and education center Acre Junior Library is
creating a lot of excitement with its meticulously
researched Chinese-language graded reading series.
“Our product, aimed at children ages four to eight, is made
up of 12 levels, with 20 books per level,” explains Eva Song,
who cofounded the company with her husband (formerly of
Microsoft Research Asia and Alibaba) and four other partners.
“We came from different backgrounds—which include educa-
tion, literary criticism, product design, and advertising—and
back in 2016, we had several children ranging from two to
four years old between us. We searched for reading materials for
our kids, saw what was available and missing, and realized that
we could parlay our diverse work experiences to create a suc-
cessful business to benefit not only our children but also other
parents and their children. We also have the know-how to
leverage new technologies to transform paper-based content into
games and multimedia offerings.”
After a couple of years of research into different English
graded readers and existing Chinese ones, Acre Chinese Graded
Reading series was born. “Most series in the market focus on
practicing and memorizing Chinese characters with very few
promoting reading as fun,” Song says, pointing out that “in
China, children should ideally know at least 800 Chinese
characters prior to entering grade school, so that they can deal
with textbooks and test papers. The problem is kindergarten
does not deliver such proficiency, which leaves parents
scrambling to find a solution and prepare their children for
first grade. Our series plugs this gap by making the learning
process fun and filled with original stories to instill independent
reading habits.”
Fun in learning is critical given young children’s short
attention span, Song notes. “Fun affects motivation and memory
retention. This is even more crucial when it comes to remem-
bering Chinese characters that are often complex. Without the
fun part, this process becomes passive and rote—and this is not
going to cultivate a love for the Chinese language, culture, or
reading.”
Song’s background in creative project management has been
helpful in evaluating illustrators and their work, as well as
ensuring a nicely packaged product. “We want this series to be
like a box of multiflavored chocolates that gives the child some-
thing new in terms of storyline and artwork style in every title,”
she says.
The Acre series, moving from simple picture books to chapter
books, enables children to learn a total of 3,000 characters, while
a dedicated app further helps them effectively remember the
characters learned. The online self-study program offers audio
files of the books, short videos on each new character, and prac-
Eva Song, cofounder of Acre Junior Library
tice games. The child’s progress is recorded and tracked to
enable further assessments.
Intensive effort is put into organizing the video clips for the
app. “Each Chinese character has a story of its own, with some
evolving from scratches on oracle bones thousands of years ago,
to those that combine meaning with sound, and others that were
created in recent memory,” says Song, whose team had already
made more than 1,000 video clips by the time the fourth level
was completed.
The series’s 240 books cover five categories: personal and
social education, natural science, social science, traditional
culture, and literature and the arts. For instance, The Shadow (in
Level 1) links the rising sun with shorter shadows; Playing House
with Little Bear (Level 2) illustrates safety issues around the
house; Buying a Cow (Level 3) tracks the evolution of trade from
barter to facial-recognition payments; and Writing with a Brush
(Level 4) introduces the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy.
Song says, “This series, aside from providing the skills for
independent reading, is also about building a holistic under-
standing of the world around the child.”
To date, 80 books (covering more than 1,200 Chinese char-
acters) have been published. The second batch of 80 titles is set
to finish this year, with the remaining completed by 2021. “We
have created the Acre Box set for each level of 20 books, which
comes with personalized app access and a parent toolkit,” Song
notes. “For online study groups, the support kit and progress-
tracking tool are provided. As for training centers, we are cur-
rently preparing a curriculum based on our series. At the end of
the day, our effort is about ensuring literacy while cultivating
good reading habits in the young.” ■

8 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
 Children’s Books in China

Aurora Publishing House

F
amed for publishing and incubating writers of original Belt and Road economic initiative, and we are playing our
children’s literature, Aurora Publishing House has been part here.”
in the book business since 1985. It was known as Yunnan Wu Ran’s Blooming with Happiness in the Dulong Area: Our
Juvenile Publishing House until 1993. Minzu Primary School, for instance, explores a remote high-alti-
“We have published many authors, including Cao Wenxuan, tude township near the border with Myanmar and its classroom
Gerelchimeg Blackcrane, and Shen Shixi, and we have a long experience. Another title, Wang Juchen’s A Letter to Shi Guang,
tradition of nurturing and promoting under-30 authors,” says relates the story of friendship between Chinese and Burmese
president Ji Tong, whose company stopped publishing teaching children.
materials and textbooks in 2018 to focus solely on trade titles. In recent months, shifting market trends and demands have
To date, its catalogue offers about 400 titles, including picture seen Ji bringing in imported titles to enrich her catalogue.
books, puzzles/games, pop science titles, and reference books Last November’s Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair
alongside its biggest category, children’s saw the launch of nine titles from Jim
literature. Its bestsellers include Liao Smith’s Barry Loser series. “Two more
Xiaoqin’s Greening in Danxiang Village titles have been signed, and we will
(from the Spring Tides and Childhood translate about two per year,” Ji says.
series) and Xu Ling’s Solve Little Troubles “We are now planning to invite the
by Yourself (from the Come On, Xiaobugu! author to the fair next year.”
series), which have sold 72,000 and Ji adds that translations are meant to
60,000, respectively, last year. plug the gaps in the existing market.
In many ways, the company’s pub- “This series, which combines quick wit
lishing program and activities are and lots of silliness, is great for encour-
inspired by its geographical location in aging reluctant readers to start reading.
Yunnan, which is China’s most diverse And cultivating a good reading habit is
province, both biologically and culturally. even more crucial now that our nation’s
It is home to at least 25 minority groups education reform is emphasizing lan-
(including Yi, Bai, Hani, Miao, Mosuo, guage capabilities, reading comprehen-
Hui, and Naxi) and borders Laos, sion, information analysis, and logical
Myanmar, and Vietnam. This is also where thinking. Children need to read to widen
China’s oldest and best-preserved ethnic their knowledge and become a citizen of
village, belonging to the Wa tribe, is the world as well, and not just to pass
located. examinations.”
Given the rich history and culture of Another shift within the company
this mountainous province, Ji believes Ji Tong, president of Aurora Publishing House comes in the form of a partnership with
that there are many stories to be told, and Belgium-based Clavis Publishing and
life experiences to be shared through those stories. “For this the Beijing Yutian Hanfeng Books Company, which are col-
reason, Aurora Publishing House has always been focused on laborators in the Key Colours Competition China. “We signed
nurturing new talents from our own community,” says Ji, whose a partnership agreement at the previous Frankfurt Book Fair,”
company established the province’s first studio for Yunnan Ji says.“So for the 2021 edition of the competition, for which
authors back in 2019. “We publish fewer established authors workshops will start this August and culminate with prize
since they have ample opportunities to showcase their works giving the following year, we will publish five of the winning
elsewhere. Our province’s uniqueness is also the main reason we titles.”
launched a biennial 20-day experiential tour for children’s lit- Ji will also collaborate with Clavis on creating original titles.
erature authors across the country in 2015.” “It will be our authors’ stories accompanied by their illustrators’
Ji says that the program “includes tours of tribal villages and works,” Ji says. The latter “will bring high-quality illustrations
schools at the borders, as well as discussion panels. Through into China while, at the same time, introducing Chinese stories
experiencing the situations faced by children and families in to the rest of the world, since Clavis publishes in Europe and U.S.
these areas, we hope to inspire new ideas for publishing as well as It marks a huge step in our ‘going out’ initiative—exporting
fostering exchanges with our neighboring countries. Such cultural products to overseas markets—and ‘going into’ different overseas
and educational networking is also a crucial element in China’s markets with high-quality content.” ■

10 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
 Children’s Books in China

Beijing Dandelion Children’s Book House

T
he release of The Snow Comes Around
at the Shanghai International
Children’s Book Fair in November
was one of the highlights for Beijing
Dandelion Children’s Book House, which
celebrated its 12th anniversary this year.
Authored by renowned children’s literature
writer Mei Zihan and illustrated by Hans
Christian Andersen Award-winner Igor
Oleinikov, the poem-based picture book is a
romantic celebration of winter.
“We brought 1,000 copies to the fair, and
it was sold out during the launch presenta-
tion attended by the author and illustrator,” Sally Yan, founder and editor-in-chief at Beijing Journey and Mr. Black and White Dog
says Sally Yan, founder and editor-in-chief of Dandelion
the press. “Readers were captivated by the meticulous illustra-
tions of the wintry landscape and intrigued by the presence of
the moose on every page.” Yan also brought (and sold) 2,000 copies
of Oleinikov’s A Ballad About a Small Tugboat at the event.
As usual, Yan held several talks—including the packed
“Beauty of Creativity” forum featuring authors such as Mei
Zihan and Peng Xuejun—at the fair to bring the publishing
community together to analyze picture books and translation
quality. “We have held such talks consecutively for four years
now, and judging from our packed booth, we need to do even
more to nurture homegrown talents,
promote original titles, and increase
our understanding of what makes a
great picture book,” says Yan, who
also celebrated the sale of the 10 mil-
lionth copy of a Richard Scarry title
with a huge cake (decorated to
resemble a spread from the Golden
series) at the fair.
Yan and her team have just pub-
lished two new titles by illustrator
Jiu-er (Twelve Hound Puppies and
Grandma Yulan’s Grass Hat). “The
are unique wordless picture books
that are alternately playful, thought-provoking, and witty,”
Yan says. “The latter cleverly uses the black-and-white contrast
to turn a boring walk-the-dog outing into a playful activity
for the protagonists and readers alike. It is about shifting a
person’s perspective and attitude towards life.”
Yan says several foreign publishers are interested in the book
rights. “This book goes to show that a simple storyline, given
the right talent and a dedicated editor, can become a mean-
ingful and exceptional picture book. It also shows that stories
are everywhere around us.” ■

Deploying Tech Tools During the Covid-19 Outbreak

With people staying home during the worst of the coronavirus out-
break in China, bricks-and-mortar bookstores were deserted and
book events canceled. For publishers, going online, trying out differ-
ent tech tools, and rethinking promotional and marketing methods
while working remotely from home were par for the course.
At Thinkingdom Children’s Books, two important bookstore
events that were already planned prior to the Lunar New Year holiday
had to be canceled. “We were supposed to have a talk on the
Snowstorm Beast, our new fantasy novel series, and a promo-
tional activity on Shinsuke Yoshitake’s new titles, which we have
recently published,” says Li Xin, v-p and general editor at Thinking-
dom Children’s Books, whose staff started working from home on
February 3. “So we turned to video-streaming to reach out to our
target audience. We did 15 online book-sharing sessions and eight
live broadcasts in February, and 55,000 viewers tuned in. With
platforms such as Xiaoe-Tech, WeChat group, and Taobao Live, our
editing and marketing efforts have continued with little disruption
during the outbreak.”
China’s connected and tech-savvy population—with 847 million
mobile phone users and 433 million livestreaming users—makes
online promotional and marketing efforts feasible. Publishers can
utilize short-form video-sharing tools offered by major online
retailers such as Dangdang, JD, and Taobao, as well other plat-
forms, including Douyin (or TikTok, as it is known outside of
China), Kuaishou (which has more than 300 million daily active
users), and Youku (a Chinese equivalent of YouTube).
During this period of remote working, apps such as Alibaba’s
DingTalk and Tencent’s WeChat Work gained market traction.
DingTalk is now used by more than 10 million enterprises to serve
200 million workers, while Tencent is leveraging its super-app
WeChat’s 1.2 billion users to penetrate the enterprise-collabora-
tion industry.
In early March, 600,000 teachers in 300 cities across China
started using DingTalk’s livestreaming tool to hold online classes
for nearly 50 million students. The government also launched a
cloud-learning platform to provide learning resources for junior
and high school students, and started national broadcast of les-
sons for primary school students. After-school tutoring centers,
mostly privately owned, ramped up their efforts to move classes
online. So telecommunications and technology players, including
Alibaba, China Mobile, and Huawei, scrambled to back up their
bandwidth to support this surge in online usage.
New business strategies have emerged while offline-driven busi-
nesses are shifting their focus to online models during the epidemic.
This period of forced experimentation will see the Chinese book
industry gaining more insights into what works and what doesn’t
in terms of deploying tech tools to reach consumers and continue
their day-to-day activities. —T.T.

12 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
The Button Soldier 蒲公英童书馆
Dandelion Children’s Book House

Illustrated by Jiu-er
A button fell off someone’s clothes and landed on a busy street. It was soon swept up by the garbage
truck, which hit a bump that caused the button to drop onto the roadside. Spring came followed by
winter. The button just lied there facing the sky, looking at the passing clouds, and, sometimes, seeing
nothing. One day, the button was dug out from the snow by chubby fingers belonging to a little boy,
who has been looking to replace a missing pawn for his chessboard. From that day onwards, it was called
the “button soldier”. The ordinary button now has a new mission. This may be a little boy’s fantasy but
perhaps the button can really become a soldier. Who knows? In this wordless picture book, there are
mysteries aplenty and young readers will have a fun time finding and solving them.

The Snow Comes Around

Written by Mei Zihan; illustrated by Igor Oleinikov
Mei Zihan’s subtitution poem in this beautifully illustrated picture book makes readers dive deep into
memories of snowy days. After Taylor Bao translated the poem into Russian—and perfectly captured
Mei’s thoughts—illustrator Igor Oleinikov stepped in to visually interpret those beautiful and powerful
words. Ten months later, the illustrations were completed. On these pages, Oleinikov used the Russian
moose to symbolize winter, which is majestic and gentle, and provided the visuals that make us realize
and appreciate the spiritual power of Mei’s poem.

Mr. Black and His Dog

Illustrated by Jiu-er
Mr. Black, like his name, is rather dull. The city where he lives always looks the same. There seems to be
something missing from his life. One day, his white puppy takes a green leash in its mouth and urges Mr.
Black to go for a walk. In the city, they appear and disappear from time to time, lost in a world of black
and white. Only the green leash is visible at all times. Then the puppy finds a large patch of greenery and
wants to play. On the way home, they no longer appear and disappear because bright green leaves are
on both man and dog. On the next day, the puppy has a pink leash in its mouth. Where will the puppy
take Mr. Black? The underlying message of this wordless picture book is that everyone has his or her own
colors (and hopes) and that makes the world both colorful and beautiful.

The Journey
Illustrated by Jiu-er Contact Us
The road is tortuous.
But heading towards the light, the end may be just around Bejing Dandelion
the corner. Children's Book House Co., Ltd.
Perhaps only in my heart, but I have no hesitation. tel ：+8610 8580 5785 ext. 8017
Lonely, but don’t look back. email ：jingbo@poogoyo.com
This is the journey of life.

The Cats That Live in the Tree

Written by Jiu-er; illustrated by Little Ten
One cat. Two cats. More cats. No-one knows exactly how many. The cats make the big tree their home. For
these strays, a big tree offers protection and warmth. Despite keeping their distance, these cats depend on
humans—the old granny who brings them water and food daily, or the little girl who gazes at them quietly,
for instance. So the cats live blissfully in the big tree, chasing and playing with butterflies and mice while
occasionally fighting with dogs. Everything is peaceful and wonderful until the cats leave the big tree one after
another until only one remains. When it finally leaves, the tears it shed deliver a deep sense of warmth and
peace to young readers.

Granny Xiu and Peach-Blossom Fish

Written by Peng Xuejun; illustrated by Ma Penghao
There is a little river running through a small village in a big mountain. The river teems with peach-
blossom fish, which Granny Xiu catches to make a delicious dish. Kids will take the risk and visit Granny
Xiu to ask for the dish. Why is it risky? That is because some villagers said that Granny Xiu is a witch. But
the person who risked everything is Granny Xiu, especially when she comes to the kids’ rescue when they
encountered a wild boar. Now the boar is dead. But where is Granny Xiu? The kids are not able to find
her anywhere…
 Children’s Books in China
BPG Bright Technology & Culture
L
ast July, independent publisher Beijing Bright Culture
Development Co. and state-owned Beijing Publishing
Group joined forces to create a new entity: BPG Bright
Technology & Culture, thus established with a
refreshing amalgam of the modern and the traditional in its
business model.
“We will utilize the more modern and innovative marketing
channels and fresh publishing ideas to differentiate ourselves in
the marketplace,” says company president Yuan Hai, adding
that half of the new company’s program will be on children’s
books. “We plan to publish nearly 100 new titles each year, with
the focus on pop science for primary and middle graders. Our
sales and marketing department have started coordinating and
sharing market insights with the editorial group to ensure that
we are proactively publishing to fit emerging demands and new
trends. We are also breaking our editorial division into smaller
and nimbler teams at the same time.”
There will be a balancing act between originals and transla-
tions, notes Yuan, whose team is publishing more volumes of
Jef Nys’s Jeremy series, one of the bestselling comics series in
Belgium. “We will continue working with partners such as
Casterman, DK, Scholastic, and Nathan Editions to bring in
unique contents while we work on building our original
publications.”
The team has just published the first eight-title set of
Nation’s Pillar: Old Scientists, a picture book series on China’s
Igor Oleinikov on Illustrating Children’s Books
In The Snow Comes Around, a picture book
published by Beijing Dandelion Children’s Book
House, a white moose appears out of the snow
on the first page and walks through all 16
spreads. The moose represents the snow,
says illustrator Igor Oleinikov, the 2018 Hans
Christian Andersen Award winner. “I saw a
video of an albino moose crossing a stream
on the Internet once, and that image stayed
with me. So when this project came, I decided
that the white moose would symbolize the fall-
ing snow.”
The wintry landscape is something that
Oleinikov understands well. “I am a northern man,” he notes.
“I relate to northern landscapes better, and this is where the love
of snow comes from. Besides, northern landscapes are very
expressive and graphic—all black and white—and if there are any
colors at all, they are usually very discreet. I love the minimalism
in the image.”
Oleinikov says that he draws in whatever way he thinks is right
for the story. “I do not try to appeal to any kind of audience with
my illustrations. I also do not follow what is happening in the book
14 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
pioneer scientists in different
disciplines. Promoted through
social media platforms prior
to its November launch, the
series sold 6,000 sets within
a month; the second set will
be released by the end of this
year.
Yuan and his team are cur-
rently in the process of plan-
ning several edu-comic titles,
as well as some on TCM
(traditional Chinese medi-
cine) for children. “The strides
made in the Chinese anima-
tion industry has built the
capacity and capability for
storytelling and illustration, Yuan Hai, president of BPG
and we are going to leverage Bright Technology & Culture
this for our original edu-comic series,” he says. “I am also seeing
new talents capable of combining artistic beauty with scientific
knowledge, and more scientists and medical practitioners
wanting to contribute their expertise in a meaningful way.”
Yuan adds that he is looking forward to “publishing content
that will help to build the next generation of readers, leaders,
and forward thinkers.” ■
market. I just illustrate. Without making illustrating
all about money, I like to work. Illustrating to me is
a job, a hobby, and a way to relax at the same
time.”
To aspiring illustrators, Oleinikov points out that
the most important thing is a willingness to learn.
“If you do, you can always find teachers—and
that’s what I did. And if you want something badly
enough, you will get it.”
Oleinikov, who studied chemical engineering,
did not have formal art training but loved technol-
ogy and drawing. “I drew for six years while at the
university and three years at a design institute,” he
says. “Back then, there were no computers, and all drawings were
done manually on a piece of Whatman paper with a ruler, a pencil,
and some calipers. After that, I worked at an animation studio, and
that was where I learned how to draw by observing the masters.”
Winning the Andersen award has not changed Oleinikov or his
work, he says. “I continue to work as I have worked before. The
only change is that I have stepped back from illustrating children’s
books, and I am now focused on adult literature. Maybe I will
return to children’s literature when the time comes.” —T.T.
 Children’s Books in China
China Children’s Press & Publication Group
N
urturing and facilitating collabo-
rations between homegrown and
overseas talents is one unique
feature at CCPPG. For company
president Sun Zhu, such collaboration is
made possible by the global village that
we live in.
“The younger generation is much more
inclusive and multicultural, and our pro-
gram is aimed at cultivating more such
world citizens,” Sun says. “The illustrators
whom we work with come from different
parts of the world, with some having
cross-cultural identities that are reflected
in their works.”
Sun’s team is set to launch Grandpa and
Me by author Xu Lu and Spanish illus- Sun Zhu, president of China Children’s
Press & Publication Group
trator Javier Zabala. Other collaborations
include Huang Yu’s Dinosaur Bus (illustrated by Ross Kinnaird),
Xu Lu’s Flying Little Umbrella (illustrated by Yoko Miyahara),
and Huang Chunhua’s What a Scare (illustrated by Mahboobeh
Yazdani).
The team also worked with Belgian author and former IBBY
president Wally De Doncker and Chinese illustrator Liang
Xiong to produce Nian and the Boy, a classic title. “This collabo-
ration offers the opportunity to tell the same story from different
perspectives,” Sun says. “A Belgian author has different inter-
pretations than those of Chinese authors, and this makes the
story unique and multicultural.”
As for New Year, author Mei Zihan collaborated with Toronto-
based (and Shanghai-born) designer/illustrator Qin Leng on a
story about a painter spending the festive season overseas and
away from her family. “It is a story that appeals to local and
overseas audiences,” Sun notes. In fact, that appeal has led a
Canadian publishing house to buy the rights before the Chinese
edition was published.
CCPPG’s Sino-foreign collaborative program kick-started in
2012 with The Feather, by Cao Wenxuan and Roger Mello, both
Hans Christian Andersen Award winners. It was a local best-
seller with sales exceeding 100,000 copies, and rights were
acquired by a dozen countries, including the Netherlands and
the U.S. “We have continued to expand our pool of overseas
illustrators for original works and further enrich our publishing
program,” adds Sun, whose team had organized the Chinese
Original Illustration Exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book
Fair since 2015.
In several cases, the overseas collaborators have promoted the
titles to their domestic markets. Russian illustrator Anastasia
Arkhipova, who worked on Across the River with author Xue Tao,
16 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
for instance, recommended the picture book
to Rech Publishing House; 3,000 copies were
sold in Russia. The same happened to
Grandma Lives in Fragrance Village, which was
illustrated by G e r m a n y - b a s e d S o n j a
Danowski, and The Feathers in Brazil. Sun
explains, “Deepening our international
exchanges and creative collaborations has
effectively spread our original picture books
into other markets around the world.”
Meanwhile, creating IP-based products has
been keeping Sun and his team busy. After
acquiring a stake in the New Zealand–based
Milly and Molly Children’s Publishing Group
in 2018, CCPPG started redeveloping the
Happy Milly and Molly series. A Chinese
character, Lily, was introduced together with
additional activities to turn it into extracur-
ricular reading courseware for kindergartens and elementary
schools. Plans are afoot for new formats such as a bilingual
Chinese-English edition, audiobooks, and animation based on
the series. Copyright agreements for Arabic, Dutch, and French
editions were signed at the previous Frankfurt Fair.
“Creating IP-based courses requires considerable planning,”
Sun says. “We must discover, mine, or cultivate an IP with deriv-
ative development properties. But at the core, the course must
have high-quality content, character depth, internet-enabled
scalability, continuity, transformability, and recognizability.”
For the successful Lucky Rabbit Elf series, for instance,
CCPPG partners with Chinese author Ge Jing to create a
Reading Training Camp to further cultivate children’s interest
in reading, and to improve their reading ability and comprehen-
sion. CCPPG also partners with Today’s Animation Company
to create Magic Martin New Readings, an extended reading
series that is synchronized with primary school textbooks.
As for CCPPG’s Happy Reading Platform, it continues to
offer young readers material across four categories: newspapers
and periodicals, animation, picture books, and an African-
wildlife resource library. Its newspaper and periodical resource
database contains content from CCPPG’s five newspapers and
13 magazines. The animation resource database offers 3,800
animated episodes, with 150 new ones updated annually, while
the picture book resource database has recently launched five
series of nearly 1,500 e-books, including the Happy Milly, Molly,
and Lily series and many original picture books from CCPPG.
“Our program is planned around meeting the reading and
learning needs of young readers,” Sun says. “We are focused on
publishing titles that will inspire, motivate, and resonate with
them.” ■
 Children’s Books in China
Jieli Publishing House
M
oving with the times, says Bai Bing, editor-in-chief
of Jieli Publishing House, is critical in the Chinese
children’s book industry. “In sales, marketing, and
distribution activities, for instance, one must take
advantage of new and emerging platforms and be innovative.
Great content is no longer sufficient in this competitive mar-
ketplace; it must be combined with a multipronged marketing
strategy to maximize its impact.”
Peng Yi’s I Fight Off Nightmare Goblins with 32 Farts was one
such title that has benefited from a successful marketing strategy
last year, in which more than 60,000
copies were sold. A week prior to the
book launch, the humorous and imagina-
tive picture book was made available for
sale from the e-commerce company
YourBay Growth Club; 20,000 copies
were sold. The audio version, available
from the YourBay picture book reading
club for one week, was downloaded more
than 130,000 times.
“Current events and trends will natu-
rally have an impact on the publishing
industry,” Bai says. “The coronavirus out-
break is certain to spark an interest in
books dealing with human-nature rela-
tionships, insects, and animals, as well as
those on health knowledge, personal
hygiene, and life-awareness education.
Parents and educators are definitely going
to ask for such titles for their children.
This will also push for more pop science
titles in these areas, especially for original
Bai Bing, editor-in-chief of Jieli Publishing
content that will cover the virus outbreak House
and its impact on the Chinese society.”
The focus on realism continues, says Bai, whose team is
searching for authors and content that depict the current lives
of Chinese people and their children. “The demand for realistic
children’s literature remains huge, and one can easily discern
that from longtime sellers such as Cao Wenxuan’s Grass House.
In recent months, we have had considerable success in this seg-
ment with Wang Luqi’s Give Me a Sun, about children left
behind in rural areas while their parents work and live in the
big cities, and Zheng Chunhua’s A Sister and Two Little Brothers,
about divorce, two-parent households, and half-siblings. We
continue to look into the life of today’s children to find different
perspectives and issues that we can address through our pub-
lishing program.”
On the other end of the spectrum, with fantasy titles, Jieli
has produced several bestsellers, including Leon Image’s Monster
18 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
Master and Cao Wenxuan’s The King Book. “The fantasy genre
has been growing steadily in China, especially after Liu Cixin’s
The Three-Body Problem won the 73rd Hugo Award, making it
the first Chinese—as well as the first Asian—novel to do so,”
Bai says. “Children as a rule have an immense capacity for imagi-
nation, and this ensures the longevity and popularity of this
genre.” Jieli will publish three original fantasy titles this year:
Ma Sanzao’s Little Lotus Lantern Book series, Gerelchimeg
Blackcrane’s Wolf Cub Fenrir and I, and Bao Lin’s Dragon Boys
Exam Team series. (See “Reimagining Fantasy Titles,” p. 24.)
Works in translation are no less impor-
tant. Jieli has worked with Usborne for
three years now and published 27 series
(around 200 titles), mostly in science
encyclopedia, puzzles/games, and pre-
school categories. The four-title Usborne
Sound Book series, for instance, has sold
more than 180,000 copies. “The combi-
nation of great content, colorful illustra-
tions, and superb sound quality works
very well for this market, and parents are
looking for more of such impactful
titles,” Bai says. “We will translate more
pop science, sound books, and game
books from Usborne. For sound books,
we are also looking at expanding the
offerings with adaptations that cover
different types, including touch-and-
feel, bilingual, and classical music titles.”
Close collaboration with Usborne at
different levels has seen the team making
use of new social media channels to
enhance product branding and market
penetration. Aside from holding about
100 group purchases online, there have been live broadcasts
involving the Usborne team (and viewed by 500,000) and more
than 10 product interviews. “There is no better way to dissemi-
nate the words about the Usborne name, products, and branding
than through social media in China,” says Bai, whose team also
published more than 40 titles from Lonely Planet Kids and is
set to launch several titles, including 101 Small Ways to Change
the World, Animal Atlas, and Wild Things.
Bai says partnering with major overseas brands has been one
important direction for Jieli, while he continues to research,
create, publish, and market original titles. “We publish for
children with the hopes that our books will help them to be
happy, healthy, imaginative, and successful, and that they will
grow up to be good and caring citizens of China—and of the
world.” ■
 Vision Book of Inks for Mr. Octopus Happy Birthday,
Sells Umbrellas Mr. Octopus! Donations of Time
Babies (4 Titles)

• Author: Bao Dongni • Author: Han Xu • Author: Fang Suzhen

• Illustrator: Zhu Ying & Zhu Zongshun
• Size: 215mm x 215mm
• Age: 0-3
A wonderful combo of ink art and vision
enlightenment, this picture book series is
focused on babies’ visual development
during their key growth period.
• Size: 210mm x 210mm
• Age: 2-5
Learn about animals, colors, and
numbers with this creative series!
• Illustrator: Xu Kaiyun
• Size: 285mm × 210mm
• Age: 3-8
A picture book on post-earthquake
reconstruction educates children on the
catastrophe by combining reality with
imaginative ideas. Rights sold to Turkey.

(tentative)
I Fight Off I Fight Off My
How to Get An Elephant Nightmare Mom with 32
Where Does An Elephant Down from The Swing Goblins with 32 Nightmare
Poo? Farts Goblins
• Author: Chang Li
• Author: Gong Ruping • Illustrator: Cloth King • Author: Peng Yi
• Illustrator: Wang Zumin and Wang Ying • Size: 225mm × 205mm • Illustrator: Tian Yu
• Size: 260mm × 200mm • Age: 3-8 • Size: 285mm × 210mm
• Age: 3-8 A fun and interactive picture book to • Age: 5-8
A humorous and incredible picture help children in creating their own Boundless imagination with a
book about poo. stories. Rights sold to Korea. hilarious plot.

Lotus Lamp Series The Master of Memory

Moose of Ewenki (5 Titles) Series (5 Titles)

• Author:Blackcrane Illustrator: Jiu'er • Author: Ma Sanzao • Author: Zhuang Haiyan

• Size: 275mm × 285mm • Size: 210mm x 148mm • Size: 210mm x 148mm
• Age: 5+ • Age: 7-12 • Age: 7-12
Showcasing the magnificent landscape of Integrating traditional Chinese values with An adventurous fantasy series
Northern Daxing’anling, this picture book modern philosophies, this series focuses on that offers practical memorization
relates the legend of an old hunter living Hui Kuan, a little monk who explores the techniques.
with a moose. Rights sold to France, world and tries to make sense of it.
Canada, and Korea.
http://www.jielibj.com anna.dong1217@foxmail.com
 Children’s Books in China

PHEI (Children’s Books Division)

C
reating a unique brand for its chil-
dren’s division back in 2016 has
proven to be a masterstroke for the
Publishing House of Electronics
Industry. Armed with a cute mascot (a curious
young mammoth with a jaunty hat and a red
bowtie who loves to read), the Little Mammoth
imprint is about “spreading knowledge that
affects the future,” says vice president Wen
Ting, whose team knows the importance of
branding and brand equity. “Nowadays, chil-
dren, parents, and educators are specifically
asking for Little Mammoth titles.”
Currently, about two-thirds of the imprint’s Wen Ting, vice president of PHEI is an original publication that features eight of
catalogue, or approximately 300 titles, are on (Children’s Books Division)
pop science. “This segment has been our focus since the division
was established in 2006, and right now, we are targeting children
aged three to six and seven to 10, who are looking for additional
reading materials outside their school curriculum,” notes Wen,
who counts DK as a major partner and has translated bestsellers
such as David Macaulay’s How Machines Work and The Way Things
Work (with combined sales hitting one million copies), Martin
Rees’s Universe, Alice Roberts’s The Complete Human Body, and
Jon Woodcock’s Coding series.
Efforts to develop originals are intensifying.
“We have learned a lot from translating the best,
and we are now implementing—and refining—
what we have learned into creating products that
are tailored to meet local demands,” Wen says. “For
instance, we find that parents and educators have
moved on from introductory materials and now
seek titles that dig deeper into a particular topic
and offer cross-disciplinary content.” The imprint
has diversified its offerings to include picture
books, puzzles and games, and language learning.
Complex pop-up Open Up: China, for instance,
China’s architectural gems and was launched to
coincide with the nation’s 70th anniversary last year; sales have
exceeded 20,000 copies. Open Up: Tiananmen is nearing comple-
tion. Then there is the six-title Pinyin Is Really Fun series about
the official romanization system for Simplified Chinese, which
has sold more than 100,000 copies. “We want to make sure our
diverse publishing program keeps pace with market demands
and helps children to grow and develop scientific thinking from
a very young age,” Wen says. ■

A Unique Challenge in Translating Baby Books

In the Chinese children’s book market, “the more words, the better” less apparent aspects of other languages at the same time,” she
is a general truism. But now that the country is adding around 15 says. “So while we are trying to publish in order to educate
million newborns per year, publishers are looking beyond educa- infants and toddlers, we are also educating ourselves in a differ-
tional and illustrated titles. Publishing for infants and toddlers, ent way,” Li adds, while pointing out that “the infant and toddler
however, are not as simple as A, B, C, or one, two, three. years are a time of great cognitive, emotional, and social develop-
“We encountered a major issue while working on Shuntaro ment, and we see this space as one that is currently under-pub-
Tanikawa’s MokoMokoMoko (Bloup! Bloup!), which uses abstract lished in China.”
imagery to teach sounds, shapes, and colors,” says Li Xin, v-p and Even though there have been more titles for those ages three
general editor at Thinkingdom Children’s Books, whose team also and below in the Chinese book market in recent years, most are
published titles for this age group by another Japanese author novelty products and
higher-priced foam or
(Katsumi Komagata). “It stems from the language itself. The Japa-
bath books, Li says.
nese language is polysyllabic, and its basic writing system, hiragana,
“In order to differentiate
is a phonetic script. This is in direct contrast with Chinese charac-
our offerings, we are
ters, where each logogram is an entire sound, or monosyllabic. publishing innovative
This means that while you can write out and imitate the sounds of paper-and-ink titles that
wind blowing (‘pouf, pouf’) or of bubbling bubbles (‘bloup, bloup’) promote imaginative and
in hiragana, there is no such character or its equivalent in the lateral thinking in the
Chinese language.” young. It is never too early
Finding the best way to translate simple sounds or expressive to start the learning pro-
interjections such as “ooooh” and “aaaah” into Chinese was cess, and what better
alternately interesting, funny, and sometimes frustrating to Li and way than to deconstruct Katsumi Komagata’s GyuGyuGyu
our language at the is also not easy to translate into
her team. “We get to understand even more about our own lan-
same time.” —T.T. Chinese.
guage and its uniqueness while appreciating the beauty and the

20 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
 Children’s Books in China
Thinkingdom Children’s Books
A
t Thinkingdom Children’s Books, publishing a title—be
it original or translated—“is like giving birth to a new-
born,” says v-p and general editor Li Xin. “It is a labor
of love that requires much patience, perseverance, and
attention.” And Thinkingdom’s recent publication of Shinsuke
Yoshitake’s It Might Be an Apple was one that tested the limits.
The rights negotiation for the title started immediately after
its original publication in Japan in 2013. “But the publisher
was not keen on rights selling at first,” Li says. “Later on,
concerns about the production quality of translated copies,
especially on the usage of specific Pantone colors and paper
stock, further prolonged the discussion and made the exchanges
between our Beijing and Tokyo offices, and with the original
publisher, particularly detailed and arduous. But our shared
goals and passion to bring the best books to children won the
day.” (Despite assurances, two editors from Bronze Publishing
flew in from Tokyo for press checks.)
Li Xin, vice president and general editor at Thinkingdom
Children’s Books
The Chinese edition of It Might Be an Apple was launched last
August at the Shanghai Book Fair, and to date, more than
70,000 copies have been sold. Thinkingdom has now published
six Yoshitake titles, including The Boring Book, which was a New
York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2019.
“Prior to the book launch, we brought together storytellers,
book critics, child psychologists, and educators to talk about
the book and discuss the best ways parents and teachers can
use the titles,” Li says. “In the case of The Boring Book, the
positive reviews and accolades made it an easier sell.” She adds
that her team also created unique display shelves and mini-
exhibitions of the books at bricks-and-mortar bookstores,
including PageOne outlets. (The Thinkingdom Group
22 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
acquired PageOne in October 2017.)
The prelaunch process, Li notes, “is the same for most of the
titles that we published, and there is no shortcut.” Promotional
activities such as combining educational sessions for parents,
teachers, and children are the focus behind Thinkingdom’s
marketing strategy. “Activities and promotions aside, good
books always stand out and are easily discernible from others in
the market,” she says. “Given the reach of social media in this
market, positive book reviews travel far and fast, and so our
events are less about selling and more about creating and nur-
turing the network that links us directly to our readers.”
Japanese author and book-design expert Katsumi Komagata,
for instance, was invited by Thinkingdom to Beijing in
November for a series of talks on his titles for the newborn to
three-year-old age groups. “We have published two of his
unique titles—Gyu Gyu Gyu and Gov Gov Govo Govo—and both
are selling very well, mostly because titles in our children’s book
market are mostly story-based and not for the very young,” Li
says. “So we are essentially plugging a market gap while pre-
senting outstanding works in this segment to inspire home-
grown talents. There is also an urgent need for more information
on how to use such books, making these talks and events valu-
able to parents and educators.” (See “A Unique Challenge in
Translating Baby Books,” p. 20.)
Promoting art appreciation has seen Li and her team focusing
on adding more titles to its Ancient Chinese Paintings in Stories
series, which revolves around major Chinese masterpieces, tech-
niques, and styles; four volumes have been published. “We are
taking an inordinate amount of time to do this original series,
which we hope will inspire the next generation of illustrators
and creatives,” she says. “Making this series—a groundbreaking
one at that—is something new to us, since we are known for
publishing single titles ever since our company was established
in 2002.”
Last year, the team did 75 new titles and 50 reprints, including
Eleanor May’s Mouse Math series and Huang Jiajia’s fantasy series
the Oracle Bone School. “Our catalogue showcases many Japanese
authors, primarily because our publishing program was built on
the successes of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s Totto-Chan: The Little Girl
at the Window—which has remained a staple on the top-10 chart
since 2003—and Yoshio Nakae’s Little Mouse series,” Li says.
“We are a known entity to Japanese publishers.”
Thinkingdom is also known for introducing names such as
Aaron Becker (the Journey trilogy), Carson Ellis (Du Iz Tak?),
Ruth Krauss (The Carrot Seed), and Shel Silverstein (The Giving
Tree) to this market. “Our goal is to publish good content from
all over the world, and good content is universal,” Li says. “And
so is the desire to enrich one’s book market, instill healthy
reading habits, and inspire budding content creators.” ■
 Children’s Books in China
Reimagining Fantasy Titles
Chinese authors and publishers are trawling ancient texts,
cultural heritage, and historical evidence for inspiration
By Teri Tan
T
he fantasy genre is not new to China. Most Chinese, if not
all, grow up reading The Classic of Mountains and Seas,
which was written at least 2,200 years ago and is filled
with mythical creatures (about 450 of them), mountains
(550 at least), and bodies of water (around 300). Deities, spirits,
and supernatural beings roam exotic locales in three realms—
earthly, heavenly, and subterranean—throughout the 18 chapters
of this ancient text.
In the real world, archaeologists have found inscriptions
about Chinese mythology on shells and bones that dated from
more than 3,000 years ago. Ancient bronze pieces, created
around the same time, also alluded to old myths. Furthermore,
China had its first emperor entombed in an underground
necropolis, supposedly surrounded by a mercury-filled moat and
an arsenal of booby traps—and has yet to be excavated. Suffice
it to say that there is much fodder for inspiration in the Chinese
culture, history, and literature for aspiring fantasy writers.
So while Harry Potter and his Nimbus broom might have cast
a magic spell on the Chinese children’s book market back in 2000
and gotten fantasy writers all revved up, the ideas and sparks
were already in place long ago. “Traditional Chinese culture is
filled with mythology and fantastical elements, and what we
really need are some imaginative minds to blend what is already
in our history and culture and bring it into the contemporary
world,” says Li Xin, v-p and general editor at Thinkingdom
These three fantasy novel series—(l. to r.) the Monster School, the Oracle Bone School, and the Snowstorm
Beast—mark the start of Thinkingdom Children’s Books foray into the fantasy genre.
24 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
Children’s Books. “Pure Chinese-style fantasy works do not
travel well outside the country. The plot needs to be more uni-
versal to transcend cultural and geographical barriers.”
The success of Harry Potter in China both promotes and hin-
ders the growth of the children’s original fantasy genre, says Bai
Bing, editor-in-chief of Jieli Publishing House. “It sets a very
high standard, which can also be daunting to aspiring authors,
who have to be extremely innovative and creative to stand out.
They have to find new materials and ways to plot their narrative.
While authors have to derive inspiration from the present state
of life and its challenges and possibilities, illustrators must also
be equally imaginative to sketch out the scenarios.”
Fantasies are about picking the mood and engaging the mind,
Li says. “Fantasy titles need boundless imagination on the part of
the creator. A fantasy title would not touch the reader’s heart if it
only speaks to its creator. So fantasy authors need to understand
their readers, and their inner thoughts and needs are paramount.
They need to ask themselves two big questions: How do children
view the world around them? What are the biggest difficulties
children encounter in life? Finding fantasy authors that are orig-
inal, imaginative, and kids at heart is a major challenge.”
Thinkingdom has published several fantasy novels in recent
months, including Wu Yuzhong’s The Monster School, Huang
Jiajia’s The Oracle Bone School, and Li Rong’s The Snowstorm Beast;
all are aimed at primary school students of eight years and older.
The Oracle Bone School is a major
success: published in January
2019, it went back to print
nearly every month for the first
10 months. Sales have exceeded
78,000 copies. This has
prompted Li and her team to get
the author to turn the story into
a longer series, of at least eight
volumes. The third volume,
focused on Li Bai, one of the
greatest poets of the Tang
Dynasty, has just been com-
pleted. (Thinkingdom’s cata-
logue is dominated by single-
title publications.)
 Children’s Books in China
Jieli Publishing House has capitalized on the success of Monster Master (l.) to publish several other fantasy series,
including the King Book, the Master of Memory, and White Fox Dila.
The Oracle Bone School plot revolves around history. “Many
children are reluctant to learn history, thinking that history
books are nothing interesting, just a jumble of dates, figures,
and events,” Li says. “But what if we let young readers go back
in time and experience a historical event for themselves? How
about getting them to sit down for a meal or to enjoy a game of
Chinese chess with specific historical figures? If we can do that,
then the history becomes alive, interesting, and immersive.
Author Huang Jiajia has been able to accomplish that with ease
in this series.”
Interestingly, the Oracle Bone School is Huang’s debut work.
“She has conducted massive research to unearth relevant his-
torical data and has diligently and cleverly fine-tuned her ideas
to make the stories work with young readers,” Li says, adding
that her team had a difficult time promoting the title when it
first came out “because, in China, it is always tough to promote
a single title, and even more so for a fantasy title, which tends
to be in a series.”
But good content wins the day. “We also did a lot of mar-
keting activities for schools, including having the author visit
primary schools, give talks, and getting children interested in
learning history,” Li notes. “Teachers and parents, who really
want their children to love history, welcome this approach, and
this book is now on the recommended reading list for many
primary schools across China.”
Over at Jieli Publishing House, Leon Image’s Monster Master,
now in 21 volumes, is its major fantasy bestseller. The second
edition was launched last July and the total sales have now
exceeded 20 million copies, spawning a dedicated website and
a fan club. Two other bestsellers are the series White Fox Dila
and the King Book, with sales of 120,000 and 60,000 copies,
respectively.
The first title of the White Fox Dila series, now available in
English from Chicken House, made the Financial Times’ list of
the best children’s books of 2019. Rights have been sold to
France, Germany, Mexico, and the U.S. As for the King Book,
author Cao Wenxuan, who is the first Chinese to win the Hans
Christian Andersen award, needs little introduction. This series,
Cao’s only fantasy work, took him eight years to create and
revolves around a shepherd boy who became the king during a
tumultuous period.
The Jieli team launched a comprehensive mobile marketing
plan for Monster Master and strove to make fan communication
faster and simpler. “We redesigned the website to fit mobile
devices and launched it last July,” Bai says. “By November 11,
it recorded over 1.2 million page views, with about 426,000
unique visitors. More than 100,000 viewers registered to view
videos on the series, and more than 5,000 logged in to watch the
author’s live broadcast.” Bai’s team also organized a campaign
titled Write a Letter to the Author (held in 43 major cities across
China), a prelaunch coloring competition, and an exhibition of
original illustrations and fan works.
The promotional campaign for Chen Jiatong’s White Fox Dila
was just as broad, including special print editions, marketing
freebies, and author tours and talks. “For online marketing, we
rely on KOLs [key opinion leaders] on major platforms to reach
the target audience,” Bai says. “We sold upwards of 3,000 sets
using this method within three weeks. There were also more than
30 WeChat groups exchanging information about the series,
indirectly fanning interest and pushing sales.” Bai’s team intro-
duced a special WeChat public account for fans to dissect the
plot and talk about fantasy titles.
Last month, Bai launched the Master of Memory by Zhuang
Haiyan, a former champion Rubik’s Cube solver. “We explore
new directions for fantasy literature with this author and
leverage his expertise and imagination to entertain children, as
well as help to improve their learning and memorization abili-
ties,” he says.
For Bai, publishing fantasy titles does not stop with just the
book edition. “We want to turn each title into a versatile IP that
can be transformed into formats such as animated features, lan-
guage courses, and merchandise,” he notes. “We want to give
such a work a pair of wings and, as befitting its fantasy genre,
let it live in different worlds and amaze us anew in each one.”■
W W W . P U B L I S H E R S W E E K LY. C O M 25
 Children’s Books in China
More Original Children’s Titles
Chinese publishers, authors, and illustrators are united in their
quest to deliver unique plots and creative ideas
By Teri Tan
T
he current offerings in the
Chinese children’s book market
are diverse, ranging from word-
less books to pictorial titles,
from real-life scenarios to
futuristic plots, and from fully
resolved endings to abstract finales. Witty
explanations, wry humor, and whimsical
plots are thrown into the mix to make the
pages and stories come alive.
The goal? To get children to love
reading and form lifelong reading
habits—because that, more than any-
thing, will ensure the longevity and
prosperity of this book segment.
In recent months, the crowded mar-
ketplace and tightening margins have
pushed Chinese publishers to further dif-
ferentiate and innovate their publishing
programs. They must produce titles that
don’t just resonate with children but also
appeal to parents and educators, who are
the actual buyers. Satisfying the latter
group means ensuring that plots are edu-
cational, empathetic, funny, kind, and
supportive for growing children. In other
words, the books need to offer moral and
educational values.
Finding authors who can write enter-
tainingly while communicating a posi-
tive and encouraging tone is tough. Add
the need to find illustrators capable of
interpreting those compelling messages
with captivating visuals to grace the
covers and pages, and the task gets even
more complex.
But with every additional forum,
workshop, and competition that is held
on creating high-quality children’s books
across China, new ideas and unique tal-
26 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
ents are being discovered. Some pub-
lishers, eager to jump-start the creative
process, are scouting graduating stu-
dents from prestigious institutions, such
as the Chinese Art Academy, and signing
up their debut works.
Increasingly, Chinese children’s
authors are into experimenting, blending
the old (from myths, legends, or histor-
ical facts) with the new and realistic
(addressing current issues such as bul-
lying, loneliness, and single-parenting).
As for illustrators, they are not shying
away from using different art styles—
cliff painting, collage, montage, pen and
ink, paper cutting, for instance—to
convey their ideas. Some of the more
established illustrators are going one step
further by telling their own stories and
creating their own picture books.
For publishers, mining the backlist for
plots that never seem to go out of style,
and diving into the slush pile for ideas
that may now work, is par for the course.
Updating pop science titles with new
experiments and introducing pinyin
(romanized) editions of bestselling prod-
ucts are two strategies that work well
with a new generation of readers. And
while authors and illustrators are busy
creating new stories and keeping chil-
dren captivated, Chinese publishers are
working overtime to fine-tune mar-
keting ideas, leverage new sales plat-
forms, and obtain direct feedback from
book buyers and readers beyond school
and bookstore walls through social media
platforms. New publishing ideas, twists
to old plots, and critical feedback from
children themselves are helping to keep
the Chinese children’s-book market
fresh, innovative, and exciting.
For some time now, Chinese pub-
lishers have used award-winning and
bestselling translations as benchmarks in
their original publishing programs. The
reason is sound: the modern Chinese
children’s book market is young, with its
picture book industry barely a teenager.
But the current crop of original titles has
indicated big leaps in quality, imagina-
tion, and execution.
Here is a sampling of noteworthy orig-
inal publications on offer, with descrip-
tions provided by the publishers.
Acre Junior Library
Energy from
the Sun
This book on
solar energy
reminds children
that most of the
energy sources
available today
are cumulated
over a long period of time. It inspires chil-
dren to think about future energy sources
and how to develop them sustainably.
(178 characters; ages 4–6)
Nuwa Created
Man
Where do people
come from? Differ-
ent cultures have
different explana-
tions, and the
Chinese have an
ancient myth to
offer as well. The
illustrator uses cliff painting, an ancient
technique that was used for creating murals
on rock faces, to narrate the story.
(105 characters; ages 4–6)
continued on p. 28
 Children’s Books in China
continued from p. 26

The Variable A Selection of Chinese BPG Bright Technology

Dough Animal Novels
In China, flour is Shen Shixi et al. & Culture
the main ingredi- This selection of out- Let’s Draw
ent in various standing novels covers Together:
local delicacies, the work of 10 Chinese Chinese Chil-
and for many writers who have made dren and 12
children, these a great impact on Zodiac Signs
dishes are the animal-themed fiction- Yang Yingying
unforgettable taste of their hometowns. writing in children’s literature. (10 titles; Children will
Readers are sure to think about their favor- ages 9–up) obtain a basic knowledge of traditional
ite dough-based delicacies when looking at Chinese art and culture, and learn to draw
these pages! (37 characters; ages 4–6) Spring Tides and the Chinese zodiac from this book. They
Childhood Series will learn to appreciate and evaluate this
Who Am I? Liao Xiaoqin et al. art form under the guidance of the author,
On the road, I am The life of children in a graduate of the Beijing-based Central
a pedestrian. In a contemporary China is Academy of Fine Arts. (Ages 7–14)
restaurant, I am a reflected in this set of
guest. At the park, original novel-length Singing the
I am a...? Different children’s works. The Classics:
occasions require titles explore their Beautiful Poetry
different behaviors dreams, loves, and growth during a fast- Yang Yingying
and manners. changing time and help them cope with This book selects
Using short and repetitive sentences, this the new era. (10 titles; ages 9–up) 40 ancient
book shows children how to behave in dif- Chinese poems
ferent settings. (61 characters; ages 4–6) that are most
Beijing Dandelion suitable—and
enjoyable—for children. The pages are
Aurora Children’s Book House accompanied by exquisite illustrations by
The Button well-known Chinese artists, thus providing a
Publishing House Soldier sense of beauty and pleasure. (Ages 7–14)
Chinese Children Jiu-er
and Chinese Year A button fell off,
Wang Zaozao was picked up by China Children’s Press
These two picture the garbage truck,
books revolve and rolled off onto & Publication Group
around traditional the roadside. One Adoraki Series
Chinese culture. day, it was found by a boy, who needed a Guo Ni
The protagonists replacement piece for his chess set. The This sci-fi series
assume the char- button then became a pawn, and mysteries revolves around
acters in the respective legends and explore unfold in this wordless picture book illus- 12-year-old Mu En,
concepts such as love, warmth, under- trated by Jiu-er. (Ages 3–6) who lives with his
standing, and teamwork. The embedded grumpy grandfather in
AR technology enhances and enriches the Twelve Hound the town’s iron dump
reader’s experience. (Two titles; ages 5–up) Puppies during the AI era. He
Gerelchimeg dreams of becoming
Come On, Xiaobugu! Blackcrane the champion of the blade league competi-
Xu Ling The night comes tion and also of looking for his mother,
This series shows chil- to the Mongo- who left him when he was very young.
dren different ways to lian grasslands (Four titles; ages 8–up)
solve problems through and the hound
Xiaobugu’s adventures. mother, nestled in a warm corner, starts to All over China
It reveals a child’s give birth. One puppy emerges after another. Cao Wenxuan et al.
complex and sensitive But where does one puppy go? Illustrated Created by more than
inner world as well as by Jiu-er, this picture book is a sensitive 70 Chinese authors
the issues he or she encounters while and caring take on life and death. and illustrators, this
growing up. (Four titles; ages 5–up) (Ages 3–6) series, in the form of
a diary, describes the
geography, landscape,
culture, and interest-
ing historical aspects of China and its 34
provincial-level administrative regions. It is
a multifaceted discovery of the country’s
beauty. (35 titles; ages 5–12)
continued on p. 30
28 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
 Children’s Books in China
continued from p. 28

A Long River
Yu Dawu
White Fox Dila Series
Chen Jiatong
Thinkingdom
This first-ever This series presents a Children’s Books
Yellow River– complex and sophisti- As Dead as a Dodo
themed picture cated world of animal Shen Fuyu
book, which is civilization. In it, white Dodos, passenger
in the form of fox Dila and his friends pigeons, thylacines...
a long scroll, pursue clues and they once inhabited
provides an immersive reading experience. embark on an adven- the Earth, but now they
It showcases an ancient river that has ture that takes them into a wonderful and are gone forever. The
nurtured the Chinese nation as well as a imaginative world. An inspiring story about disappearance of any
grand river that is closely linked in the an animal dreaming of becoming a human species is a step
people’s daily lives. (Ages 9–14) being, this series is already available in toward loneliness for mankind. This warm
English, French, and German. (Six titles; story is aimed at raising awareness of
The Mysterious ages 7–12) animal and environmental protection.
Express Delivery (Ages 7–up)
Family Wolf Cub Fenrir and I
Liangse Fengjing Gerelchimeg The History of Chinese
This YA action/adven- Blackcrane People, Vol. 3
ture series is about From renowned writer Shen Fuyu
young Xia Yitiao, an Gerelchimeg Black- This volume, subtitled
extraordinary teenager crane comes a story Starry Sky Above the
with incredible super- about a captured Warring States, covers
human powers. Throughout his journey, little wolf returning the Warring States
he suffers great loss and heartache but to the wild. This first period, which was one
also finds friendship, hope, and a true wolf-themed book from the writer is about of the most influential
sense of belonging with his powerful and debunking the “big, bad wolf” stereotype. in Chinese history.
mysterious Express Delivery family. (Ages 7–12) Its scholar-officials, represented by philoso-
(Nine titles; ages 9–up) phers, rose as the new political elite, and
their doctrines influenced the governmental
PHEI (Children’s Books structures and cultural patterns that
Jieli Publishing House Division) characterized China 2,200 years ago.
(Ages 7–up)
A General History of Chinese
Chinese Science and The Song of
Architec-
Technology Everlasting
tures in 3D
Jiang Xiaoyan Sorrow 
Wang Yu
Containing hundreds of Bai Juyi
There are
achievements across Written 1,200
many great
14 major fields, these years ago, this
ancient
books showcase the Tang Dynasty poem
buildings in the vast land of China that
breadth of Chinese is a masterpiece
are quite different from those in the West.
science and technology, spanning 5,000 in Chinese poetry.
Through these pages filled with complex
years. The series allows young readers It narrates a tragic love story between the
pop-ups, children travel around China and
to understand and appreciate the full emperor and his noble consort during war-
get to know the fabulous architectural
extent of Chinese civilization. (Six titles; time. Two current Chinese painters, Wu
gems and learn the wisdom of the ancient
ages 13–18) Sheng and Yu Shui, use traditional silk
Chinese. (Ages 3–6)
painting to recreate this story. (Ages 5–up)
Mr. Octopus Humanities and
Series Wonderlands:
Geography for
Han Xu A Magical Atlas 
Children
The two titles Zhang Hong
Gaiti Cultural and
in this cognitive- The author takes the
Creative Co.
enlightenment reader to 10 places
This two-volume series
picture book where beloved children’s
follows China’s two
series—Mr. Octopus classics were born,
most important rivers,
Sells Umbrella and referencing works such
the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.
Mr. Octopus’s Birthday—teach toddlers as Harry Potter, The
Children will read about the nature, geogra-
about number-matching and picture/color BFG, and Alice in Wonderland. Through
phy, culture, and history of these river
recognition and entertain with stories about anecdotes and stories, from inside and
valleys. Filled with traditional Chinese
family, friendship, and bonding. (Two titles; outside the books, the author paints a
paintings, this series is both artistic and
ages 2–5) magical and enchanting fairy tale atlas for
informative. (Two titles; ages 7–10)
the reader. (Ages 7–up)

30 P U B L I S H E R S W E E K L Y ■ A P R I L 2 0 , 2 0 2 0
 Zhong
Chinese Women Qian Xuesen:
Nanshan: The
Volleyball Team: Craters on the
Guardian of
Never Say Never Moon
Life

Hua Luogeng: Chinese

Wang Xuan:
Great Math Astronaut:
A Fantastic
Master from Dreamers in
White Fox Dilah Series Science Fighter
Little Grocery Space
(6 Titles)

• Author: Chen Jiatong Story of Chinese Pioneer Series

• Size: 210mm x 148mm
• Age: 7-12 • Author: Li Qiuyuan, Ge Jing and Xu Lu A record of pioneers in various
A captivating tale about animal-to-human • Size: 185mm × 130mm disciplines, these stories are inspiring
transformation. Rights sold to France, • Age: 7-12 and interesting for children.
Germany, Mexico, the UK, and the US.
(tentative)

(tentative)

(tentative)
Inspiring Stories from Aunt Li Kankan: Dreams on the
Wolf Cub Fenrir and I
Agony (3 Titles) Self-study Course (4 Titles)

• Author: Blackcrane • Author: Zhu Wei • Author: Chang Yi

• Size: 210mm x 148mm • Size: 210mm x 148mm • Size: 210mm x 148mm
• Age: 7-12 • Age: 7-14 • Age: 9-12
A story about a captured wolf cub This set of self-help novels inspires Combining reality with the imaginative and
returning to nature. children to face challenges bravely and whimsy, this series offers a unique reading
teaches them to get along with others. experience to children who love to daydream.
(tentative)

A General History of Chinese

Childhood in Nature Series Science for Youth Series Technology and Science
(6 Titles) (3 Titles) (Youth Edition) (6 Titles)

• Author: Zuo Hong • Author: Wang Jie • Author: Jiang Xiaoyuan

• Size: 210mm x 148mm • Size: 230mm × 170mm • Size: 235mm × 168mm
• Age: 9-14 • Age: 7-12 • Age: 13-18
Experience the joys and wonders A set of informative, inspiring, and Learn about the development of
of childhood in northeastern China imaginative books that promotes Chinese science and technology
through this series! scientific thinking. through the last 5,000 years.

http://www.jielibj.com anna.dong1217@foxmail.com