The big picture

Children's picture books have been growing in popularity in the past few years. Xu Han, one of the artists who caters to this genre, has created the iconic character Ali. Photos provided to China Daily

We are bombarded with images every waking minute of the day, and yet many of those who try to make a living bringing us such images are having a tough time

Two and a half millennia after Confucius said that "One seeing is worth a hundred hearings" some bright spark in the English-speaking took a page out of the great sage's book and came up with "A picture is worth a thousand words".

In the West that gave birth to an industry last century that employs millions of people who provide illustrations for books, catalogues, advertising and other media.

And yet somewhere along the way in China the old message seems to have been overlooked by many, and only in recent years has the printed picture begun to impose itself as a medium par excellence for getting across messages in many different areas.

One of those who is aware of how far China has lagged but is now seeing it making strides to catch up is Zhang Yunbao, 29, a children's picture book editor for Beijing Poplar Culture Project Co Ltd. In her free time she draws commercial illustrations and makes her own picture books.

Zhang has worked in the field for five years and says that she has realized that in the past two years the demand for both commercial illustrations and children's picture books has begun to take off, "which holds the prospect of a much bigger market in coming years", she says.

"You can see that illustrations are increasingly wanted by online shops, clothing brands, cellphone brands, and booths in shopping malls."

Over each of the past 10 years sales of children's picture books have grown by an average of 10 to 12 percent in China??, says Hou Mingliang, founder of IlluSalon, an organization founded in Beijing in 2014 promote the use of illustrations in China and aims to bring together illustrators and those who use illustrations wherever they are.

Hou has worked in the children's book publishing industry for eight years.