Children's Books with Chinese Elements Hit the London Book Fair

On April 5， 2022， the London Book Fair was held offline. Shu Lin’s Grandpa， a children’s picture book illustrated by Yu Rong， a British Chinese illustrator， sparked heated discussions at the book fair.

This book tells the story of Shu Lin， a Chinese immigrant girl， who overcomes cultural shocks and makes new friends in a foreign country with her grandpa's help. The book combines highly-recognizable images such as dragons and pandas， with other Chinese elements in creative forms of paper-cutting and ink painting to create a painting style that is both classical and modern. On April 5， a small seminar was organized by the International Youth Reading Exchange Platform， a platform jointly sponsored by China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Co.， Ltd. and its overseas partners. During the seminar， Chinese and British translators， publishers， and readers shared their views about the book and further discussed how best to tell Chinese stories.

a reader reading Shu Lin's Grandpa at the London Book Fair on April 5 (Xinhua/Li Ying)

Yu Rong suggested that an author should have a pure heart， a love for traditional Chinese culture， and a passion for conveying Chinese stories with words or pictures if they want to tell Chinese stories well.

Marianne Simon， an MA student majoring in publishing and creative writing at Kingston University， said the rich illustrations combined with the celebration of Chinese culture which Shu Lin's Grandpa represented made for a thought-provoking read. It had really inspired her desire to visit China， in particular， to explore the traditional ink artwork and heritage it hinted at.

Helen Wang， a British translator who had translated the works of Cao Wenxuan， a famous Chinese children's literature writer， said that children's literature and children's picture books are the best way for Chinese and British youth to resonate with each other. She will devote herself to bringing more Chinese children's books to international readers.

Nicky Harman， a British translator who won the Special Book Award of China， said it was delightful to see more and more young British translators helping international readers to understand China better. Translators should not only understand what Chinese writers want to express， but also know what international readers need.

According to Chinese people who have been engaged in publishing activities in Britain all year round， some new books with Chinese elements have been published by international mainstream publishers these years. Under the COVID-19 pandemic， the international publishing community is calling for new diversified works.

From April 5 to 7， 2022， the London Book Fair resumed its physical exhibition at Olympia Exhibition Center， attracting hundreds of exhibitors from more than 50 countries and regions. China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Co.， Ltd. organized more than 60 Chinese publishers to participate in the exhibition， with the theme of \"Read China\". Around 1，000 classical publications of about 500 categories were on exhibition.