A whole set of the picture book series. Photo provided to China Daily

The books returned to their earlier popularity in the mid-1980s, when lianhuanhua were being published by the hundreds of millions annually.

As many other forms of entertainment, mainly TV and Japanese comic books and cartoons entered ordinary Chinese households as China ushered in economic reforms, lianhuanhua gradually disappeared again from the public eye. Since the mid-1990s, it has been difficult of find books in the format in stores.

But at the same time, almost, old lianhuanhua began to appear in the collector's market at steep prices.

"A well-preserved lianhuan-hua collection of the first edition of the Romance of Three Kingdoms is worth more than 1 million yuan ($159,800) today," Liu Wei, the director of Beijing-based auction company, Guoxintaifeng, told China Daily on the sidelines of an auction held in Beijing on Saturday, when more than 400 lianhuanhua went under the hammer, with opening bids at more than 1,000 yuan. Most collectors, between 40 and 60 years old, kept the books as a hobby during childhood.