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Already a large and mature industry in many developed countries, picture book creation and publishing is nascent on the Chinese mainland, but has developed rapidly. Every year, lots of new picture books are published and more publishing houses are investing in this field.
"There are two reasons for the boom: Parents are paying more attention to children's preschool education, and the importance of reading picture books has been more recognized," said Yin Shanshan, editor in chief of the Giving Tree.
As a pioneer and advocate for introduced foreign classics, the Giving Tree is one of the first few companies to have introduced foreign classic picture books to China beginning in 2003. At first, even the first printing of 5,000 books didn't sell out. But now, it has sold more than 100,000 copies for some most popular books it published.
The Giving Tree has developed in parallel with the market. It has secured the copyright for publishing the Chinese edition of nearly 500 masterpieces created by 100 famous foreign authors, such as Shel Silverstein, Leo Lionni, Maurice Sendak, James Thurber and David Shannon. Some classics it has published, such as The Giving Tree, Stone Soup and Swimmy have been widely recognized by readers. It publishes about 50 newly introduced picture books every year.
"With an estimated market share of 80 percent, introduced foreign classics have dominated the domestic picture book market," said Yin. "Compared with original picture books, there are lower risks with foreign classics because they have more mature content and demand less editing work and less early-stage marketing efforts."
The top 100 bestsellers of children's picture books at Amazon.cn and Dangdang.com
were almost all foreign titles. This dominance aroused concerns from parents, painters, writers and experts.
"Homegrown picture books are far from enough. It's a quite demanding occupation that requires people to write well and draw well in a way children can understand. China's good painters are not in this area," said Cao. "Although human emotions are somewhat similar, we can't expect foreign picture books to carry the essence of our culture."
Meng Fanyong, who created the Shell Forest Picture Book Cafe in Wuhan, Hubei Province, shared the same worry with Cao.
"The unpopularity of China-produced picture books means the absence of Chinese traditions and literature classics in children's early-age education. It may create difficulties for these kids to find their cultural identity when they grow up."
Chen Xianming, mother of a six-year-old daughter and a fan of foreign picture books that are often delicately designed and decorated, is concerned about the too many Western elements in foreign picture books. "My daughter would ask me who God is," said Chen. "Also, influenced by those picture books, my daughter loves strawberry pie and is more enthusiastic for Christmas than for China's Spring Festival. I don't want to see that happening."
Compared with foreign picture books, homegrown ones still have a long way to go.
"For now, they don't have a specific division of age groups and lack corresponding designs and painting styles. Besides, they don't have a thorough understanding of children's inner worlds and are not used to seeing the world through children's eyes," said Xu.
Mothers who have compared Chinese picture books with English books have the same opinion.
"I hope my kids can read and write Chinese, although they were born and will grow up in the United States," said Yu Yinghui, a Chinese mother who has two daughters and now lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her family.
"I have sought for Chinese picture books designed for toddlers and preschool kids, but I couldn't find many of them. The elder sister often feels frustrated when she comes across many strange characters in her Chinese reading material. On the contrary, she found a great variety of picture books in libraries and kindergartens interesting and easy to read, because these books, written in easy English, tell stories designed for kids of different age groups," Yu said.
In addition, publishers are not confident in the market prospects of Chinese original picture books and are reluctant to invest.
"Chinese picture book authors are not paid well because publishers are unwilling to invest more on original picture books," said Xu. "Generally, they can only earn 15,000 yuan ($2,361) for each book even if the book has a good market performance. But it usually would take them more than half a year to complete the job. Less than 100 original picture books are created on the mainland every year and less than 100 authors have picture book creation as their career."
You are what you read, which is also true with children. "Why can't our children grow up immersed in Chinese elements?" said Xiong Liang, a Chinese writer working on homegrown picture books. "We should give our children a memorable China, which is the foundation for carrying forward China's civilization and strengthening their faith in our nation. That's why I chose this as my career," he said.
Various organizations in China are working to promote domestic picture book production. For instance, the China Children's Press and Publication Group has held the China's One Hundred Homegrown Children's Books activity, with a special fund for subsidizing and promoting China-produced picture books. Another example is the Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award, which was established in 2008 to recognize, promote and encourage the creation of Chinese-language illustrated children's literature. | 
