The genre of children's literature wasn't firmly established in China until the 1930s, when acclaimed writers like Ye Shengtao and Bing Xin started composing for the young and Western classics began to pour into the country.

Ye's Scarecrow and Bing Xin's Words for Young Readers are considered the foundation works of China's original children's literature.

In the 1950s, the genre blossomed and gave birth to many standing classics including A Cat Wants to Fly by Chen Bocui, another fairy-tale master, and Adventures of a Little Rag Doll by Sun Youjun, which was also the country's first nominated work in the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing.