Pop-up books in China

After months of effort in 2007, piecing together 700 parts, the team presented the first Chinese version of Robert Sabuda's recreation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a pop-up book. Last year, the book's second edition was released.

In one breath-taking scene, 104 mini playing cards erupt from the book's pages, "making the book not only a good read, but also a collectors' favorite", said Taitung University's Lin Wen-Pao, a children's literature professor.

"Parents gradually accept and learn to utilize the interactive nature of pop-up books in early education," Lin said.

In the meantime, Wang spent years trying to purchase the right to publish a pop-up version of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), but was refused over worries that there was no market for a book priced at 60 euros ($65).

Viewing the success of the Alice book, the French publisher finally authorized the endeavor, "touched by our courage and unremitting effort in presenting a deserving book to our readers", Wang said.

It was a hit after being released in September.

Wang, who was born in 1964, fostered her style. She started as an art editor and worked at an advertising company under a film producer in Xi'an from 1986 to 1997. She went to the Xi'an daily Chinese Business View in 1997 and helped improve the newspaper's performance, but felt insecure as print faced numerous challenges by Internet and new media.

"At the age of 42, I felt I would be stuck in a dead end if I didn't do something to elevate the whole business," she said. That year, she established Ronshin Group and tried to fill a gap in children's publications that she saw when she compared Chinese publishing to the industry in foreign markets.

Wang, who has sharp memory for numbers and likes to attend public lectures, also cooks and collects calligraphy.

Her next plan is to publish pop-up masterpieces that even adult readers would love, such as a new Harry Potter pop-up book, and a series of highly original paper art works by David A. Carter, a master paper engineer known for his Bugs series.

Wang also wants to publish more pop-up books that feature Chinese interests and history, as this is what she is making effort to achieve. "Kids need to read works that are based in their own culture and match their reading habits," she said.