In Shanghai, the International Children's Book Fair opened on Monday, and organizers say picture books are a popular attraction for young readers at the event.

Shanghai International Children's Book Fair

Many parents and children were looking through books at the fair this morning at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.

"I like reading picture books as I can understand the stories. I have a cabinet of picture books. And every day I spend half an hour reading them," said Wei Zihan, reader.

Organizers say more than half of the books at the fair are picture books. Some publishers say many of their best-selling picture books come from overseas, but Chinese books are becoming more popular.

Publishers say they are trying to improve the quality of domestic works.

"I think there are many good topics in Chinese culture which can be developed into picture books. They have unique cultural elements. But still, the story-telling should be smoother and the context should nicely fit into the 20 to 30 pages of capacity," said Ikuko Ishikawa, Beijing Popular Culture Project Co..

"A picture book should bind its pictures and words well. That's not an easy job as sometimes the artist is not good at story-telling, while the writer's words don't match with the pictures nicely. So the creating of a good picture book needs to involve artists, writers and editors working together," said Tang Weili, China Children's Press & Publication Group.

China publishes nearly 40,000 different children's books every year, and picture books account for about 10% of them.