20th Century Chinese and Japanese Children's Literature

•Most children’s literature was orally transmitted until the early 20th Century

•1932 Big Lin and Little Lin by Zhang Tianyi was the first full length Chinese novel for children
•1990 General Anthology of Modern Children’s Literature of China (15 vols) was released. Included literature since 1920

Information on Zhang Tianyi

Website selling Chinese Children's Literature for examples

The Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award

Some famous Japanese children's authors include:

• Kurushima Takehiko (1874-1960), known as "the Japanese Hans Christian Andersen."
• Mitsumasa Anno, (1926- ), illustrator and writer, best known for picture books with few or no words. His "Journey" books depict a tiny character travelling through scenes densely populated with pictures referring to art, literature, culture, and history.
• Satoshi Kitamura (1956- ), picture book author and illustrator now lives in London.
• Koji Ishikawa (1963- ), popular author and illustrator.

Japanese Children's Literature Online Exhibit

Bilingual Magazine about Japanese Children's Books