Children's books a tale of new cultural confidence

Early chapters

In the early 2000s, China's children's book industry started to witness rapid growth along with the national economy.

In 2018, China published over 44,000 children's book titles, ranking first globally in total volume, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency. Over 500 publishers nationwide were producing children's books. The annual total print runs of children's books exceeded 800 million copies, featuring over 300,000 active titles and generating sales exceeding 20 billion yuan ($2.86 billion).

During this time, numerous children's books, especially literature and picture books, were introduced into the flourishing Chinese market from across the world. International collaborations and two-way exchanges also expanded and deepened.

In 2013, the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair was launched, and soon became an important event on global publishers' calendars.

In 2018, it boosted cooperation with the world-renowned Bologna Children's Book Fair, aiming to better promote original Chinese content worldwide while also bringing the best international books to local readers.

Chinese children's book authors also started to shine on the international stage.

In 2016, fiction writer Cao Wenxuan became the first Chinese author to win the Hans Christian Andersen Award, which is known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature". The jury president said Cao "writes beautifully about the complex lives of children facing great challenges".

In 2018, Xiong Liang became the first Chinese illustrator to be short-listed for this highest international recognition for children's book illustrators, followed by Cai Gao who was short-listed as an outstanding illustrator for the award in 2024.