Girl's view of Beijing captured in pic book

The illustration of the temple fair in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In an illustration page about Chinese New Year, you can see a temple fair that is full of people and the color of dangling red lanterns, while people enjoy the festive foods, kids buy little gifts with their hongbao (red pocket with New Year gift money), and others marvel at a traditional lion dance as drummers march along.

The illustrator of the book, Xu Wendi, is a young woman in her 20s who has been living in Beijing for more than 10 years. She found the experience of cooperating with Sultan on the book to be amazing.

"It feels like you have married someone but you've never really seen his face in person, and after years of living together, you finally get a chance to look at him, learn about him, and really fall in love with him," says Xu, who now has a new appreciation of the city that she lives in.

"Through illustrating, I had totally new eyes to see the city. A foreigner can tell dozens of traditional Chinese elements in a scene, and that's just touching."

Xu says that she got to observe Beijing more carefully while she was doing the illustration, for example, paying detailed attention to the shape of tiles on the roofs, the meaning of animal sculptures on different buildings, and even what breeds of birds are in the trees.

"From as big as the Great Wall, the Tian'anmen Square, and the hutong that can represent Beijing, to as small as the traditional yogurt, camp chairs old people carry around, and the stuffed animals that kids hold in their hands, Lana communicated with me about every detail of the book," says Xu.