The market for children's books in China has seen a surge over the past decade, with market share of book sales growing and also a wider variety of overseas children's books introduced by domestic publishing houses.

"The last 10 years have been a golden period for China's children's book market with an explosive increase, while the next 10 years will maintain a stable yet still fast growth," said Wang Yue, vice-president of the Children's Bookstore of Dangdang, one of China's largest online marketplaces.

"At Dangdang, the most popular and bestselling category are those books introduced by Chinese publishers who bought copyrights in the domestic market, followed by original literature works by Chinese writers and directly imported books," Wang said.

In terms of sources of imported children's books to China, "The US, UK and Japan are the top three importing countries, with a market share of about 35 percent, 15-20 percent and 10 percent respectively," said Wang.

The Magic School Bus book series by American publishing house Scholastic has been the most beloved children's book chosen by Chinese parents for their kids for years, according to Wang, with annual total number of volume sales reaching three to four million.

The Adventures of Tintin series, introduced by China Children's Press & Publication Group (CCPPG) in 2001, is another of the most popular.

Despite the huge revenues generated from a wide range of overseas award-winning and bestselling children's books it has introduced to the country, CCPPG has taken the initiative of exploring and cultivating domestic authors for children's literature, according to Li Xueqian, president of CCPPG.

"Every year, about 20 percent of the overall titles published by CCPPG are imported children's books from well-known overseas publishing houses, mostly from Europe," said Li. "One of the main purposes of buying copyrights from overseas publishers is to choose categories which are not that familiar, or even new to our little readers and authors of children's literature in China."

It will not only help expand children's vision, but also enlighten domestic writers and illustrators, he said.