Little people books

You guys still remember those "little people books" that kids used to read back in the 80's. Man, I miss them so much. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, these are the Chinese equivalent of comic books, only much better. Instead of talking about superheroes in a fictional setting, these "little people books" usually talk about history stories (famous people and events) and famous novels, in an attempt to help kids understand Chinese culture better. And they were usually sketches drawn by highly established artists. I'm not talking about comic artists. These artists were usually trained in classic art and most of times highly established classic painters (the Chinese equivalent of Da Vinci and Michaelangelo (spelling?)). SO these little books are literally pieces of art.

I used to have a sizable collection with series like the romance of three kingdoms, journey to the west, legend of the water ford (shui3 hu3), legend of yue fei, generals of the Yang family, legend of Sui and Tang dynasties, Feng1 sen2 bang3 (Asigning gods?, not a good translation...), etc... I think I used to have about a thousand of these books. When I was little, every day when my dad picked me up at the kindergarden and on our way back home, we would pass by this little book store. My dad would buy me a "little people book" every day. So of course, after years, I got this huge collection (I had this huge box about 4'x4'x4' next to my bed with all the books in it). I think that's also how I got interested in history and military since many of those books (as listed above) talk about ancient wars.

After I came to the States, my mom and sister sold all the books cause they thought these books were kids' stuff and waste of space. Plus, we can't bring them to the States. Man, I was so upset about it. And now, these books have become collectables and worth alot of money.

Anyone know how I can get hold of some of these little books now? I looked everywhere on-line and can't seems to find them.

Cant answer anything about your little books,but decades ago my father use to show Chinese movies at a rented theatre every Sunday. Some came from Communist China until complaints had them banned as most Chinese over here were KMT supporters etc etc>

There was one cartoon series of a little boy with a magic crayon and anything he drew came to life. So basically the films were based on his adventures and such like and based on some mythological stories etc. As a kid I was really fascinated by this particular series of film I think I saw 2 of them.Was there anything like that in your time, and any inkling on what became of them.I was thinking it might have been a favourite kiddies cartton story telling feature throughout the country.

vesicles said:

I used to have a sizable collection with series like the romance of three kingdoms, journey to the west, legend of the water ford (shui3 hu3), legend of yue fei, generals of the Yang family, legend of Sui and Tang dynasties, Feng1 sen2 bang3 (Asigning gods?, not a good translation...), etc... I think I used to have about a thousand of these books. When I was little, every day when my dad picked me up at the kindergarden and on our way back home, we would pass by this little book store. My dad would buy me a "little people book" every day. So of course, after years, I got this huge collection (I had this huge box about 4'x4'x4' next to my bed with all the books in it). I think that's also how I got interested in history and military since many of those books (as listed above) talk about ancient wars.

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omg are you talkin about those hard cover ones? i think i have those too, there are also Shi Ji and Dong Zhou Lie Guo Zhi etc. when i left China a looong time ago i gave em to my cousin for safekeeping, last year i was in China for the summer and spent quite a bit of time reading them...though i was a lil too old for that lol. but it does bring back the good memories.

bladerunner said:

Cant answer anything about your little books,but decades ago my father use to show Chinese movies at a rented theatre every Sunday. Some came from Communist China until complaints had them banned as most Chinese over here were KMT supporters etc etc>

There was one cartoon series of a little boy with a magic crayon and anything he drew came to life. So basically the films were based on his adventures and such like and based on some mythological stories etc. As a kid I was really fascinated by this particular series of film I think I saw 2 of them.Was there anything like that in your time, and any inkling on what became of them.I was thinking it might have been a favourite kiddies cartton story telling feature throughout the country.

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yep, it's called Ma Liang with the magical pen. We've all watched it. But I think it's a movie, not a series. We might be talking about different things. The one you saw might be a knock-off of the original movie

There weren't many cartoons in China when I was little. A few good ones include the Monkey King, Na Zha, and the legend of a book from heaven (talking about a kid born from an egg and 3 evil foxes).

pla101prc said:

omg are you talkin about those hard cover ones? i think i have those too, there are also Shi Ji and Dong Zhou Lie Guo Zhi etc. when i left China a looong time ago i gave em to my cousin for safekeeping, last year i was in China for the summer and spent quite a bit of time reading them...though i was a lil too old for that lol. but it does bring back the good memories.

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Hard cover?? What era did you grow up in China, the 90's? All the ones I had were soft cover. I don't think I've ever seen those little books with hard cover. I think I appreciate the drawing more than anything else.

vesicles said:

yep, it's called Ma Liang with the magical pen. We've all watched it. But I think it's a movie, not a series. We might be talking about different things. The one you saw might be a knock-off of the original movie

There weren't many cartoons in China when I was little. A few good ones include the Monkey King, Na Zha, and the legend of a book from heaven (talking about a kid born from an egg and 3 evil foxes).

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Thanks I must ask my sons friend who goes back to Jinan during our summer holdays to see if he can get a dvd copy(what are the chances)?