Chinese / People's Republic of China
Wan wu sheng zhang
(All things grow)
Liu, Haiqi
(text)
Zou, Xiaoping
(illus.)
Tianjin: Xin lei chu ban she (New Buds Publishing House), 2025. – 191 p.
ISBN 978-7-5307-7975-0
Childhood | Short story | Moral education
Reading age: 10+
White Ravens issue: 2026
This short story collection for children draws its title from a popular 1960s »red song« (revolutionary song), evoking the writer’s childhood and the spirit of childhood today. With his innovative narratives, Liu Haiqi deviates from the typical style and content of Chinese children’s fiction and its notions of childhood. Realistic images of children collide with contradictory moral concepts, revealing the vibrancy of a »red« generation’s childhood, and proving that, in any era, while the lives of children can be disciplined by mainstream ideologies, their innate free spirit still prevails. With rare precision and density, this collection reworks the era’s formal literary language and revives forgotten historical experiences. Liu Haiqi is a renowned publisher, former CBBY Deputy Chairman, and outstanding children’s author. His books include »You ge zi de xia tian« and »Wu wei xiao shu li xian ji«. He won the National Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature twice and received the 2023 China’s Good Books prize. [FW, ZX]