The national launch of the Shanxi Intangible Cultural Heritage Picture Books and a parent-child storytelling event took place on Feb 10 at Shanxi Library, with the series now available nationwide, allowing children across the country to experience Shanxi province's millennia-old culture.

Children listen to ICH stories at the storytelling event. [Photo/Shanxi Economic Daily]

These books aim to achieve nationwide reach by utilizing Shanxi's 182 national-level intangible cultural heritage (ICH) resources, over 12,000 outlets of KFC which is a fast-food restaurant popular with kids in China, and more than 1 million public storytelling events. Collaborating with Zhejiang Juvenile and Children's Publishing House and Hope Publishing House, nearly 1 million copies will be available in KFC outlets nationwide starting Feb 20.

The Shanxi Intangible Cultural Heritage Picture Books is a four-volume series focusing on Shanxi's four representative ICH projects. With child-friendly storytelling and design, it balances cultural heritage with children's aesthetics, filling a gap in Shanxi's original ICH-themed picture books and serving as a model for innovative heritage transmission.

At the launch event, many participating parents noted that after reading the books, children eagerly asked to learn paper cutting, and some even tried making flower-shaped buns and dough figures, showing that the seeds of traditional culture have taken root and are growing in their hearts.

"With these picture books, we hope to bring ancient heritage into children's lives," said Liu Dongxia, the author. She emphasized that while Shanxi has a vast array of ICH resources, many projects are too abstract for children; using picture books, a familiar medium, helps effectively pass down these techniques, stories, and emotions.