One of the drawings by Zhang Yunbao.

Even as a society like China fulfils its mission of ensuring that the vast majority of its citizens are clothed and fed and people feel well off materially, the public appetite grows for intellectual and spiritual nourishment that only the likes of education and arts such as music, literature and painting can give, he says.

Li Ajiu, 32, a freelance illustrator in Shanghai, says that just 10 years ago when she graduated from university, illustrated books were hard to come by in China, but now they are everywhere. That is partly because parents have come to accept the concept of picture books, she says.

Hou says: "Picture books with beautiful illustrations, good stories and creative storytelling will exert great influence on children, who construct the world and connect themselves with society through the picture books. So good picture books are very important."

However, 85 percent of children's picture books are imported from overseas, and 15 percent are domestic original creations, Hou says.

Chinese parents prefer to buy imported picture books for their children because the values reflected in the stories are expressed in more creative ways and the quality is generally better than that of domestic works, he says.

"And for publishing houses, imported good-quality picture books, particularly ones that have won big awards, are safer in the market."

Some people attribute this to the longer history of the illustration tradition in Europe or the United States, which naturally cultivates more highly talented illustrators, but others, including Hou and Zhang, say many other factors are hampering the growth of the domestic illustration industry.