Medical advice that will have you in stitches

Cartoon books Doctor Panda and Er Shixiong: Cartoons on Medicine and Health 1-3 are very popular among readers. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Last year Miao authored an illustrated book on stroke, and Zhou was the editor.

The book is about prevention, risk factors and causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation from a stroke, and is copiously illustrated.

It includes information on related health conditions, such as aneurysm, an excessive localized enlargement of an artery caused by a weakening of the artery wall, and atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular beating that can cause stroke.

The book is meant for not only patients, but also doctors, especially those who are in counties and rural areas and do not have access to timely updates on medical advances.

Miao invited a group of show business celebrities, including the actress Gao Yuanyuan and the actor Huang Bo, to promote it on Sina Weibo.

Miao is unhappy with the result, even though 60,000 copies of the book have sold and even though some hospitals and associations have given the book as a gift to distinguished guests.

For one thing, Miao says, the book, despite its many illustrations and graphics, is not as readable and easy to understand for ordinary readers as he had hoped.

The illustrator of the book, who is an art student and is very devoted to the book, knows little about stroke, and it was very time-consuming for Miao to communicate with him, Miao says.

In addition, reading a paper book has become less attractive to Chinese people, and relying entirely on paper books to promote health knowledge is a shaky proposition, Miao says.

Zhou Ning, the editor, also acknowledges that even though the cartoon books are one of the publishing house's key projects, at a time when consumers can read material free online and on mobile devices, many are unwilling to pay for paper books.

Even though the publishing house is supportive of the cartoon books, more effort is needed to make the books appealing to people, she says.

However, Miao has another commercial plan. In recent stories he has written about a cafe that he and Er Shixiong have spent a lot of time in. He hopes to find investors to build such a cafe in which people can read the comic books free of charge and consult a medical professional.

The cafe can also serve as a venue for medical conferences and salons.

He also hopes that one day the characters in the cartoon stories will be as famous as Disney cartoon characters, and that they can combine health education with selling derivative products.