This Day, That Year

Item from July 29, 1985, in China Daily: China and the UN children’s agency UNICEF have jointly published several books for children . ...

Here, officials from China’s National Committee for the Defense of Children and UNICEF check the quality of the books.

More than 10,000 books from 30 publishing houses were on show at the 2016 China Children’s Book Fair in Beijing this month.

The highlight of the show was Chinese picture books. They have been enjoying rising popularity among young Chinese in recent years.

Last year, China’s 21st Century Publishing Group was honored with the Best Publisher of the Year for Asia award at the 52nd Bologna Children’s Book Fair, one of the world’s most important shows for children’s books.

With more Chinese parents paying attention to their children’s education at an early age, the book fairs have become a must-go place for them. That interest was reflected at the Beijing fair, which attracted a record 200,000 visitors.

Picture books originating in other countries are also popular in China.

One such book is the Japanese series, The Bear’s School. More than 2 million copies of these books have been sold in the country in the past 15 years.