Culture

Optimize the overseas dissemination ecology of children's literature

2026-02-25   

Focusing on the "going global" of literature: Building a more effective international communication system, the "going global" of children's literature is an important link. Promoting the "going global" of Chinese original children's literature is a characteristic field and key path for the dialogue between Chinese literature and the world, as well as the global dissemination of Chinese stories. Entering the 21st century, with Cao Wenxuan winning the International Hans Christian Andersen Award as a symbol, Chinese children's literature has made remarkable achievements in "going global". However, Western cultural products still dominate various fields in the international market, and it is imperative to enhance the international influence of Chinese original children's literature. Using this as an anchor point, exploring how to break through the bottleneck of cross-cultural communication, innovating the path of "going global", and constructing a children's literature discourse system with Chinese characteristics and global influence has become a topic worthy of in-depth exploration in the current cultural construction and international communication fields in China. The value and significance of "going global" in children's literature are rich. In the current era of globalization and digitization, Chinese original children's literature resonates with the strong voice of the times, and its "going global" carries multiple value implications far beyond the literary itself. Literary children's books have diverse themes, including nursery rhymes, picture books, fairy tales, children's novels, and coming of age novels, and are known as the "spiritual colostrum of children". High quality children's literature is an important medium for children in various countries to understand the world, form preliminary values, and shape their awareness of a community with a shared future for mankind from an early age. Cao Wenxuan's "Bronze Sunflower" uses poetic strokes to depict hardship and warmth, Tang Sulan's "The Story of the Stupid Wolf" conveys simple kindness through humorous storytelling, and Yang Hongying's "Naughty Horse Jumping" presents the universal characteristics of growth through vivid campus daily life... These works rely on the commonality of emotions to cross cultural boundaries and open a warm window for overseas readers to understand Chinese childhood narratives, becoming a model text for the integration of national characteristics and world sentiment in the process of children's literature "going global". For a long time, the international community, especially Western countries, has had a one-sided and stereotypical understanding of China. Children's literature, with its pure aesthetic qualities and easily empathetic stories, has become an important window to showcase the image of China. The influence of Chinese original children's literature works overseas proves that there is another literary world with charm and meaning outside the global children's literature landscape dominated by countries such as Europe, America, and Japan. Through children's literature works, China's unique patriotism, philosophical wisdom, local customs, family ethics, and contemporary children's life scenes are presented in a poetic way, shaping overseas teenagers' intimate perception and identification with Chinese culture unconsciously, becoming a soft and profound force to enhance international influence. The strong driving force for works to enter the international market has brought significant motivational effects to domestic writers, and also opened up new creative perspectives and directions. Many original children's literature works by authors have covered over a hundred countries worldwide, contributing unique Chinese strength to the prosperity and diversity of world children's literature. Meanwhile, the "going global" of children's literature is not only a cultural act, but also an important engine for the internationalization of the cultural industry. Some publishing institutions promote the flow and integration of domestic and international creative resources through a combination of "going global" and "bringing in" international solicitation, international translation projects, and international solicitation for Chinese journals, helping Chinese publishing build a new development pattern of domestic and international dual circulation and mutual promotion. The reality of children's literature "going global" poses many challenges. Although the "going global" of children's literature has achieved significant results, it still faces systematic and chain like difficulties. For example, there is a balance problem between cultural expression and common human values in terms of content. Currently, some children's literature works in China lack in-depth exploration of human nature and conscious aesthetic pursuit, with insufficient storytelling and literary quality; Some works have a strong adult perspective, falling into the quagmire of preaching and formulaic creation, lacking sincere depictions of children's complex inner thoughts and global resonance; Some works overly pile up cultural symbols and ignore the acceptance habits of overseas readers; Some works lack distinct ethnic characteristics, fall into simple imitation of Western models, and have insufficient international recognition. In terms of translation, there is a shortage of professional talents and insufficient cultural adaptation. Translation is the key to determining the quality of a work's "reproduction". Excellent translators need to possess language proficiency, cultural literacy, and knowledge of children's literature, but such talents are severely lacking. If some countries lack sinologists who can directly translate Chinese children's literature, they need to rely on English translation to highlight the issue of "cultural discount". In addition, there are great difficulties in grasping the scale of cultural adaptation, and finding a balance between preserving the cultural core and achieving effective dissemination is a common challenge. Some translations have to modify some content to enhance the overseas acceptance and adaptability of the work. In terms of channel promotion, the dissemination path is relatively single, and the overall IP operation capability is not strong. The brand recognition of Chinese children's literature in the international market presents the characteristics of "concentrated head and weak overall". Most works are difficult to enter mainstream overseas distribution channels and are often limited to the circle of sinologists or Chinese readers. In terms of marketing and promotion of works, digital sales platforms and social media platforms have not been utilized, resulting in a serious lack of user reach and difficulty in forming a sustained and effective international communication force. Compared to mature full industry chain IP operations, Chinese children's literature IPs lack experience in cross media storytelling, global licensing, and long-term brand maintenance, resulting in generally low market conversion rates. In terms of ecological collaboration, there is insufficient resource integration and a lack of long-term mechanisms. 'Going global' involves multiple stakeholders such as government departments, industry associations, writers, publishers, translators, etc., but currently lacks effective mechanisms for resource integration and collaboration. Each party often fights independently, making it difficult to achieve economies of scale. The connection between policy support and market operation is not smooth enough, and some supported projects lack market orientation, making it difficult for works to form sustained influence after going global. In addition, the imperfect international copyright protection mechanism and the phenomenon of overseas piracy also constrain the healthy development of the industry. Exploring the Innovative Path of "Going Global" in Children's Literature To break through the above bottlenecks, it is necessary to achieve a transformation from pursuing the scale of "going global" to focusing on the depth of "going global", and carry out a full chain and systematic path innovation. Adhere to the principle of 'content is king', committed to creating high-quality content and improving the construction of the author team. On the creative side, it is necessary to continue to deeply cultivate the Chinese experience, cultivate the soil of Chinese culture, tell unique "Chinese stories", delve into common human themes such as growth, family, courage, and nature conservation, and achieve "Chinese themes and global themes". At the same time, it can attract global children's content creators to carry out joint creation around "Chinese elements, world stories" and achieve value co creation. Publishing institutions should establish high-quality topic selection support programs and high-quality IP incubation mechanisms to create children's literature masterpieces that combine the spirit of the times and international dissemination potential, and help authors plan the cross media narrative potential of the "story world" from the early stages of creation. Establish a mechanism for cultivating a team of outgoing writers, and strengthen the creative team of "leading by the head, supporting by the backbone, and relay by the new generation". Build a specialized and collaborative translation support system. By setting up majors in universities and conducting international workshops, we aim to build a multi-level, specialized, and high-quality translation system. Actively establish long-term cooperative relationships with international sinologists and professional literary translators, and promote "Sino foreign translation collaboration". Strengthen the training of domestic translation talents, improve the incentive mechanism for translators, and attract outstanding talents to join this cause. Establish a communication mechanism of "author editor translator" to ensure the accuracy and artistry of translation. In addition, in terms of strategy, methods such as "flexible translation+cultural annotation" can be used to adapt culture while preserving the spirit of the original work. Expand a diversified and digitized three-dimensional communication network. Deepen international publishing cooperation, make full use of international cultural communication platforms, actively embrace new technologies and leverage the role of social organizations to achieve multi-channel, three-dimensional and efficient dissemination. For example, strategic partnerships can be explored with important publishing institutions in the international children's publishing field, leveraging their mature channels and brands for joint publishing and promotion. Continuously participate in international book fairs and utilize platforms such as overseas Chinese cultural centers and Confucius Institutes to hold high-level literary dialogues and reading promotion activities. Develop multimodal products such as audiobooks, e-books, VR, AR interactions, etc. to adapt to the consumption habits of overseas "digital natives". Actively utilizing overseas short video platforms, online reading communities, social media platforms, etc. for content preheating and IP incubation, directly reaching overseas young readers and their parents through writer interaction, cross-cultural reading challenges, and other means. We can also leverage the communication power of overseas sinologists, librarians, teachers, book reviewers, and Chinese communities to amplify word-of-mouth effects through localized activities. Improve the support system for policy, market, and industry linkage. Promoting the 'going global' of children's literature requires building a healthy and sustainable communication ecosystem. It is necessary to optimize policy guidance and support, improve international cooperation on copyright protection, and establish an evaluation system guided by communication effectiveness. Strengthening market operation and brand building, children's publishing institutions need to establish long-term brand operation awareness, systematically plan overseas markets and develop IP derivatives for key writers' works, and achieve sustainable operation. Promote industry collaboration and the integration of industry, academia, and research, encourage the establishment of national or regional "going global" alliances for children's literature, hold creative camps, translation workshops, and copyright promotion events, and form a stable and efficient professional communication network. Strengthen cooperation between publishing institutions, universities, and research institutions, carry out academic research and talent cultivation for special projects, and provide continuous theoretical and talent support for "going global". In the new historical context and international communication pattern, promoting the "going global" of Chinese children's literature has become a systematic project related to cultural mutual learning, cultural confidence building, and high-quality development of the cultural industry. Only through emotional resonance across cultures in content, deep integration in industry, intelligent outreach in communication, and cognitive co construction in reception, can Chinese children's literature truly transcend geographical and cultural boundaries and contribute unique and profound strength to enriching the spiritual home of children worldwide. This is a cultural journey that requires time accumulation, wisdom cultivation, and long termism. (New Press) (Author: Wang Zhuang, Professor at the School of International Politics and Communication, Beijing Language and Culture University)

Edit:Shenchen Responsible editor:Jiajia

Source:https://epaper.gmw.cn/

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