The big picture

Secret by Li Ajiu

Good illustrators

But to gauge the quality of illustrations in a certain country you have to see the general level of the illustrators, not just a few of the top ones, Hou says.

"Maybe this is going to offend some people, but the average level of Chinese illustrators is low because many illustrators are just craftspeople who are good at technique, but who lack the quality to become masters because they don't have a big enough reserve of culture, including literature, music, and painting.

"China's arts education is twisted. Students who go to fine art academies are usually those who may not be able to enter general universities. Ideas are most important for illustrations, and the images are secondary.

"So there is still a long way to go. Nowadays Chinese people annually read no more than five books on average, compared with more than 60 in Israel."

A college teacher, Xu Han, creates stories about Ali, the popular red fox image he created. Now he is directing a motion picture about Ali.

He says that when he created the picture books about Ali, the biggest challenge he faced was writing good stories rather than getting the painting techniques right.

"The core of a picture book is the story. To write a good story you have to build up a big collection of ideas from everyday life."

The task that illustrators or designers face covers more than just artistic technique and form and also entails trying to express oneself through the content, Xu says.

Zhang says that when she was deciding which university to go to, her father, who always encouraged her to realize dreams, suggested that she should go to a comprehensive university rather than a special one.