The legend of outlaws, gods, goddesses and xiaorenshu
Xiaorenshu presents a story with drawings and captions. It began in the Han Dynasty (260 BC-AD 220) with mural paintings on the walls of tombs.
In 1925, the Shanghai World Publishing Bureau released five books, including Journey to the West (Xi You Ji), Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi), Outlaws of the Marsh (Shui Hu), The Legend of Gods and Goddesses (Feng Shen Bang) and The Stories of Yuefei (Yue Zhuang), and called them xiaorenshu for the first time.
In general, the picture-story book is hand-sized. The stories are often based on Chinese classic novels, fairy tales, educational subjects, famous Western books and even films.
The most popular xiaorenshu in China's auction market are those produced during the 1950s and 1960s. They were created by such greats as Cheng Shifa, Liu Jiyong, Liu Yongnian, Wang Shuhui and Gu Yongxin.
The longest series of xiaorenshu is Romance of the Three Kingdoms, released by the Shanghai People's Art Publishing company in 1957. More than 20 painters worked on the series and there were 60 books with a total of 7,000 pages.
Two years ago this series set a record at auction and fetched 75,000 yuan ($10,120).
The largest print run of picture-story books with a modern subject is Railroad Guerrilla, released by the Shanghai People's Publishing Company in 1955. It has been reprinted 20 times and sold 36.5 million copies.
China Daily
(China Daily 11/23/2007 page18)
