Editor's Note: When I was a little girl, my mom would tell me bedtime stories. Wielding her magical weapons — comic books or simply made-up stories — I would listened to one or two of her stories, and quickly be sound asleep.

Today, as the mom of a baby girl, I’ve noticed beautifully drawn picture books have sprung up all over China, so I certainly have more choices for picture books than my mom. And as an amateur picture book reader, award-winning ones seem to be a guarantee of good quality. When I did a quick search through a Chinese online book store, I found imported foreign award-winning books are numerous, and that by contrast, Chinese award-winners can be counted on one’s fingers. That’s an issue I shall leave to scholars and picture book gurus to sort out.

I'm glad to see the number of indigenous illustrators is growing, and they are stepping into the light in the international picture book arena. Below is an incomplete list of Chinese international award-winning illustrators over the past two decades, and I hope the list is never finished and continues to grow.

By Wang Zhen