Gender and cultural diversity in Chinese children’s picture books: A data-led analysis of bestselling modern titles

Picture books are a main source for pre-schoolers to learn about the wider world; it is important for children to see themselves in books and be aware of differences (Johnston and Bainbridge, 2017; Latima, 2020). Male dominance in children’s books, such as the dominance of male characters has long been problematic (Gooden and Gooden, 2001; Kim, 2016; Terras, 2018), it is important therefore to consider gender (as a protected characteristic) when considering diversity in the Chinese children’s book market.

Picture books in different countries reflect diverse cultural preferences (Saxby & Winch, 1987; Wee et al., 2015). With a large, growing children’s picture book market (Johnson, 2018), China has translated children’s titles from
countries including US, UK, Japan, etc (Li et al., 2020). This study examines the diversity in gender and popular themes in Chinese children’s picture books, by analysing the book authorship, titles, and blurbs of 2,000 bestselling children’s picture books from Dangdang, the major Chinese online bookseller. It provides a general reflection of topics in children’s books from different countries, including
Asian, Western countries and other regions.