Hou Mingliang

　　Founder of IlluSalon. Co.,Ltd President of Guokai Children’s Media (Beijing) Cultural Co.,Ltd

　　Q As a Chinese pioneer of children’s books, you have been working in publication for many years. Please share with us the features and advantages of children’s picture books in China.

　　A Publication can be the vanguard for Chinese culture “going global”; children’s books, picture books in particular, are the best starting point. The greatest advantage of picture books of China is the story. China has too many stories to be told throughout its 5000 years of history. For instance, stories from poems of Tang and Song Dynasties could be collected into poem picture books, so like the Classic of Mountains and Rivers , most myths and legends are same forming process. Stories could also be found in Chinese idioms. China has 56 ethnic groups and each one has own stories, as well as traditional Chinese festivals, which could be adapted to picture books.

　　Chinese stories are inexhaustible and children across the world are eager to read them. We need to find where to start with, and make professionals collect and focus on this part of detail.

　　I have full confidence in the future of children’s picture books. We have been working on original ones in recent years, and finding the key is how to tell Chinese stories well, embellish them but ensure their framework unchanged. We have many details to improve, and the plot must match the story.

　　Chinese stories are inexhaustible and children across the world are eager to read them. We need to find where to start with, and make professionals collect and focus on this part of detail.

　　There are three major sources of Chinese stories: The first is traditional Chinese culture, from which we can make picture books loved by kids all around world. The second is our original literature for children, which is potential to produce many story picture books, and currently we are working with several writers on this. The third is the big community of mothers. They pay great attention to educating their children with picture books, so when we are soliciting good stories online, they can provide many stories with a modern perspective.

　　With such broad-based content materials, we can feel the emerging of original Chinese picture books, because more publishers are coming to us to work on them. In the last few years, Chinese publishers have paid more attention to picture books than ever.

　　Q You have imported many popular and best selling children’s books, what are the criteria for imports? As there are differences in Eastern and Western cultures as well as the preferences of Chinese and foreign children, what books are more popular among children and parents in China?

　　A Every quality book that is marketable and positive is worth being imported. If a book is to be popular among Chinese readers, first of all it must have a good story, which is imaginative, so that children can read with great interest. Second, a good story must be welltold. Its characters must be liked by children. They can be weird, not necessarily beautiful, but children love them.