Blog Post #1

For my first blog post I decided to focus on how Chinese children’s literature has expanded over the years. After reading The Straw House by Cao Wenxuan, I was intrigued by other Chinese children’s literature books. After looking I noticed there were not very many books that had been published in China, most of the books had been translated from English to Chinese. So this was a growing market, and I thought that this was very interesting. Considering that China usually leads the market industries in many areas, so for them to have a small market for children’s books was surprising to me. Cultural stories are extremely important in children’s literature, so for China to not have many children books that have originated in China I found this to be problematic. If these books are written based on American experiences, they are not books that children can relate to in China, because there are cultural differences. As mentioned in “Children’s Books in China 2019: The Chinese Children’s Book Market is Still on a Role”, “As such, the present Chinese children’s book market has diversified beyond its traditional fare of multivolume nonfiction series and educational titles” (Tan). Children’s books which normally focus on the educational purposes of books, are now starting to move into the fiction genre. Children need to be able to relate and enjoy the books they are reading, this gives them an escape from reality and can allow them to make connections to characters in the stories they are reading about. If all the books are based on educational topics and American experiences than they are not able to make these connections. While there may be some characters that Chinese children can relate to, they are still not completely relatable they need books that they can relate to regarding their culture, and daily lives. Educational literature and nonfiction literature are still important, and should still be continued, but children do not usually choose to read these books. If they are provided with fictional literature that they can relate to and understand, because it is about their lives and their culture it will give them characters that they can make connections with. This can help them to not wonder about their lives, and why they are so different from the American stories they have read. Literature makes an impact on so many people’s lives, so China making this effort to expand their children’s literature outside of its traditional proceedings is a first step in providing children with the literature needed for them. Overall, Chinese children’s literature is important and can make an impact on these children’s lives like most literature does, so it is important to continue expanding.

References:

Tan, Teri.”Children’s Books in China 2019: The Chinese Children’s Book Market is Still on a Role.” Publishers Weekly, 15 March 2019, https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/79546-the-chinese-children-s-book-market-is-still-on-a-roll.html. Accessed 22 April 2019.

Wenxuan, Cao. The Straw House. Translated by Sylvia Yu, Julian Chen, and Christopher Malone.Shanghai Press, 2005. Print.