Young readers do things by the book

Two girls are among the young readers visiting the China Children Book Expo that ran from May 28 to June 1 in Beijing. Photo provided to China Daily

"There were few picture books in China when I visited the Beijing International Book Fair in 1995," recalls Ikuko Ishikawa, president of Poplar Kid's Republic Picture Book Shop in Beijing, the Chinese branch of the Tokyo-based Poplar Publishing Corporation.

"When we opened up the book store in Beijing in 2005, it was still difficult to fill the shelves with Chinese picture books," says Ishikawa. "Most picture books in the store were in Japanese, English or traditional Chinese."

After 10 years of promotion, Poplar Kid's Republic has become one of the leading picture books publishers in China, and fostered a group of local picture book illustrators.

Although growing numbers of local publishers have marched into this niche market, imported picture books still represent a large portion of picture books in China.

"The Chinese originality for picture books is still weak, and for most publishers it is easier to import and translate foreign picture books than make a Chinese one," says Lyu.

Hai Fei, a renowned Chinese children's book publisher, thinks the future of children's book publishing lies in originality, and he says young Chinese writers and illustrators have been growing fast.

"In the past, we always felt that the Chinese picture books lagged far behind foreign ones," says Hai. "But this year we find it different. Six out of the 10 recommended picture books for toddlers are original Chinese works."

"The past golden decade of children's book in China was driven by children's literature," Hai says. "As Chinese people become better off and parents pay more attention to the early development of children's reading habits, I predict another golden decade in picture books."