Happy Chinese New Year

Irised Kingdom

Anhui Children’s Publishing House

January 2018

198.00 （CNY）

Brief introduction：

This is a pop-up book that reveals the atmosphere and customs of the Chinese New Year. It tells the interesting story of Tuantuan and Yuanyuan preparing for and celebrating the Chinese New Year with their family. With exquisite illustrations and three-dimensional pop-ups， the book brings to children the grand occasion of the Spring Festival， which is most valued by the Chinese people. It introduces in detail the origin of the “Nian”， related myths and legends， interesting traditional customs， local food customs， and colorful New Year activities. In this book， children can also get to know excellent Chinese traditions， wisdom， and fruitful results behind the Spring Festival， as well as China’s pursuit of a better life for the future.

Irised Kingdom

The Irised Kingdom Creative Studio focuses on the development and production of creative children’s toy books. It is one of the well-known leading creative teams" promoting original cultural ideals in China and is one of the first professional teams engaged in designing pop-up books in China.

Traditional festivals are an important part of the long history and culture of the Chinese nation and are precious cultural treasures. Happy Chinese New Year， a pop-up book published by Anhui Children’s Publishing House， tells the interesting story of Tuantuan and Yuanyuan preparing for and celebrating the Chinese New Year with their family. With exquisite illustrations， lifelike three-dimensional pages and interactive craftsmanship， it brings to children the grand occasion of the Spring Festival that is most valued by the Chinese people.

So far， the simplified Chinese version of Happy Chinese New Year has published a total of 525，000 copies in Chinese mainland and won the Best Seller Award for Excellent Children’s Books in Six Provinces of Eastern China when it was published in 2018. The publisher has exported the copyright of the book and traditional Chinese， English， and Spanish versions have been published all around the world.

With the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative and the rapid development of China’s economy， China plays an even more important role in the international landscape. More and more schools abroad start to offer Chinese courses. Chinese language education has become an important part of primary and secondary education in foreign countries. Some countries even bring Chinese into the national education system.

Cultural barriers cannot hinder the spread of stories. On the contrary， only by good storytelling can the cultural barriers be broken. Increasing international attention requires us to constantly improve our international communication ability and pay attention to writing Chinese stories. Since its establishment in 1984， Anhui Children’s Publishing House has been committed to making high-quality children’s books. It has been insisting on the branding of books and promoting the globalization of Chinese culture in terms of the four dimensions of story， knowledge， aesthetics， and emotion.

A pop-up book refers to a book that readers can unfold the three-dimensional images using movable parts or by opening and closing the pages. Compared with print books， pop-up books are lively and interesting， full of interactive elements， and can better promote children’s interest in reading. In the current era of experiential consumption， the demand for integration of interest and interaction with multiple elements continues to promote the innovation of book forms， and the demand for original pop-up books is getting even higher. “Good Fun” is the original pop-up book brand of Anhui Children’s Publishing House. After eight years of careful management and accumulation， it has published hundreds of pop-up book products， with an annual total of over 200 million RMB for books sold. Anhui Children’s Publishing House has rich market experience in the development of pop-up books.

The Spring Festival is the grandest traditional festival for the Chinese people and has been the spiritual pillar of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. Many foreigners’ fragmented impressions of China come from the Chinese Spring Festival. Therefore， the emergence of the pop-up book Happy Chinese New Year is helpful for foreign readers to understand the customs of the Chinese New Year and the traditional Chinese culture， so as to better understand Chinese people and China.

Happy Chinese New Year is one of the major products of the traditional culture section at Anhui Children’s Publishing House’s “Good Fun” series of pop-up books. With the mission of spreading culture and inheriting civilization， taking creativity as the tipping point， it redefines the image of pop-up books from a global perspective. The book focuses on the traditional Spring Festival. With exquisite 3D scenes and pop-ups， it reveals a traditional Chinese New Year intuitively and completely; from listening to the stories of Nian to nine major themes such as buying New Year goods， posting Spring Festival couplets， and New Year’s Eve dinners. Through interactive reading， readers can understand the traditional customs and feel the strong atmosphere of the Chinese New Year.

Besides the three-dimensional pop-ups， the book also adds sticker games， manual activities， and other elements that are skillfully combined with the festival rituals in the book. Luminous ink and click sound effects are also used in many places in the book， so that the New Year can be revealed in an atmosphere full of surprise and joy， providing readers with a fresh and diversified reading experience.

To further implement the Going Global strategy of Chinese Culture， enhance the international influence of Chinese books， and expand the channels for the spread of Chinese books to the world， Anhui Children’s Publishing House integrates resources and channels at home and abroad， focusing on promoting Happy Chinese New Year.

In 2019， Anhui Children’s Publishing House and Intercontinental Communication Center jointly published the English and Spanish versions of Happy Chinese New Year that successively appeared in major international book fairs.

In April 2019， the English version of" Happy Chinese New Year was on display at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. This was the first time the book has appeared at an international book fair， attracting numerous readers. In November 2019， the book was highly praised by Chinese Ambassador to Kuwait Li Minggang and Cultural Counsellor Zhu Xi at the Kuwait International Book Fair， one of the most important book fairs in the Middle East. In the same month， the book also appeared at the 13th International Book Fair in Turkmenistan. In early December， its Spanish version received a high level of attention at the Guadalajara International Book Fair in Mexico.

The Guadalajara International Book Fair is the largest international book fair in Spanish world and the second largest international book fair after the Frankfurt Book Fair. In January 2020， the English version of the pop-up book Happy Chinese New Year was coveted at the Doha International Book Fair in Qatar when the Chinese Spring Festival was approaching. The Qatari Minister of Culture showed the book to the public on the spot， giving a high level of praise for it. In November 2020， the book was warmly welcomed by the audience at the Lebanon International Book Fair.

To spread the beauty of traditional Chinese culture， Happy Chinese New Year offers various ways such as setting books and pictures， flipping， pulling， and pasting various elements within the book. This allows foreign readers to more intuitively participate in traditional New Year activities such as pasting couplets， hanging lanterns， enjoying the dinner on New Year’s Eve， setting off firecrackers， wearing new clothes， giving red packets， watching lion dances， and taking family photos.

At the end of October 2019， the English version of Happy Chinese New Year appeared at the International Charity Sale： Great Love without Borders in the Bird’s Nest. At the end of 2019， it was selected as the recommended book for Going Global with the Chinese Spring Festival culture by the State Council Information Office of China， and offered an ordering service for the Chinese embassies and consulates abroad. According to CCTV News on the first day of the Lunar New Year， February 12， 2021， the Chinese Embassy in Iran， the Chinese Embassy in Australia， and the Chinese Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia gave this book as a Spring Festival gift bag to overseas Chinese students and overseas Chinese to convey love and blessing from the motherland. So far， the global circulation of the English version of Happy Chinese New Year has reached 18000 copies， and the Spanish version has reached 2，000 copies.

During the Spring Festival in 2021， the Chinese National Tourism Office in Rome and the Italian magazine The World and China jointly produced the content-based short film BE HAPPY， Celebrating New Year. It was directed by Leonardo Lombroso， a well-known Italian director， and performed by young Italian actors. The short film showed the pop-up book Happy Chinese New Year in detail. It took its reading as the main narrative line， interspersed with the demonstration of Chinese Spring Festival culture and traditional dances. It is a masterpiece with rich content， strong appeal and full communicative power. The work was uploaded on various media convergence platforms and participated in some short film festivals in Italy and Europe.

Up to now， the overseas distribution of the three versions of Happy Chinese New Year has brought a total of 588，500 RMB in cultural exports， creating a wonderful achievement for Chinese original books and representing the recognition of the book in the international market.

Through Happy Chinese New Year， we fully realize that such projects should closely focus on the needs of the times and follow the laws of external communication. Excellent books can transmit information more effectively and completely， and the effect on the spread of culture will be more sustainable. Anhui Children’s Publishing House will continue to actively broaden resource integration， build new types of cooperative partnership with excellent professional publishing houses and agencies at home and abroad， make full use of the resources of partners to achieve win-win sharing results through the complementary resources， and make use of multiple platforms and channels to spread Chinese culture to the world. Through this， we can better enhance the expansion and influence of Chinese culture， and make new contributions to promoting Going Global.