# Lianhuanhua Picture-Story Books

> Palm-sized Chinese picture books, about three by five inches, that tell a novel, opera, film or revolutionary story in hundreds of single framed drawings, one to a page, each with a short caption. Interiors are black ink line drawings, from fine classical-costume outline to realist sketching, with colour kept for the cover. Rented and read at street stalls, they were the most popular reading of 20th-century China until television and manga displaced them from the late 1980s.

- Period: 1925–1990
- Where: East Asia
- Origin: Shanghai, where Shijie Shuju (World Book Company) adopted the name in 1925 and street-stall publishers multiplied; after 1949 state presses such as the People's Fine Arts Publishing House and Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: Linked pictures, Xiaorenshu (little people's books), Chinese serial-picture storybooks
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/lianhuanhua/

## How it works

- Give each page one framed picture and a short caption block above, below or beside it; avoid multi-panel grids.
- Draw the interior in black ink line, from fine outline for classical subjects to hatched realism for modern ones.
- Stage the story cinematically, varying viewpoint, distance and close-up from page to page.
- Keep colour for the cover, where a painted scene sits under a hand-drawn title.
- Make the format small, cheap and rentable, so a story runs across hundreds of frames in a pocket-sized book.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (defining)
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (defining)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (characteristic)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (occasional)
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (occasional)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Typography only, Collage & layering, Full bleed, Experimental & distorted, Non-representational, Fluorescent & neon, Ironic & self-aware

Palette: #1b1b1b, #f0ead8, #c23b2e, #3d6e8f, #e2b84a

Typefaces: Songti (Ming) and Kaiti printing types for captions, Hand-drawn meishuzi ('art lettering') cover titles, Brush calligraphy titles on classical-story covers

Known for: Shen Manyun, Arrest of the Orchid (Republican-era Shanghai); Zhao Hongben and Qian Xiaodai, Sun Wukong Thrice Defeats the White-Bone Demon (1962); He Youzhi, Great Changes in a Mountain Village (Shanxiang jubian, 1961–65); Ding Bingzeng and Han Heping, Railway Guerrillas (Tiedao youjidui; nearly 4 million copies); Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Shanghai Modern & Yuefenpai](https://stylogeny.com/styles/shanghai-modern.md) (1910–1949)
- Influenced by: [Nianhua & Chinese Folk Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nianhua.md) (c. 1100–present)
- Influenced by: [Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/socialist-realism.md) (1932–1989)
- Alike in its design choices: [Amar Chitra Katha Comics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/amar-chitra-katha.md) (1967–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Persian Popular Narrative (Lithographs & Coffeehouse Painting)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/persian-popular-narrative.md) (1843–2012), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Arab Children's Comic Magazines (Samir to Majid)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arab-childrens-comic-magazines.md) (1956–present), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Burmese Parabaik Painting (Konbaung Folding Books)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/burmese-parabaik.md) (1752–1885), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [L'Association and French Alternative Comics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/l-association-comics.md) (1990–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Filipino Komiks](https://stylogeny.com/styles/filipino-komiks.md) (1929–1999), 65% alike

## Real works

- [刘胡蘭 Liu Hulan (picture-story poster, one of two sheets: six panels)](https://digitalesamlinger.kb.dk/images/billed/2010/okt/billeder/object172526/en/): Li Jiyuan, Meng Qingjiang, Wang Jiao and Zhang Guanghe (pictures); Zheng Yongpei (verse), 1973, Royal Danish Library (Det Kgl. Bibliotek), Copenhagen, Chinese poster collection (kob_kin_pl_0042, shelf mark Kob-kin-42/43)
- [学习雷锋好榜样 Learn from the Good Example of Lei Feng (picture-story poster, panels 1–2)](https://digitalesamlinger.kb.dk/images/billed/2010/okt/billeder/object172530/en/): He Youzhi, 1973 (3rd printing, August 1973; 1st printing July 1973), Royal Danish Library (Det Kgl. Bibliotek), Copenhagen, Chinese poster collection (kob_kin_pl_0046, shelf mark Kob-kin-46/47)
- [司马懿诈病赚曹爽 (Sima Yi Feigns Illness to Trick Cao Shuang), panel from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms lianhuanhua](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E5%8F%B8%E9%A9%AC%E6%87%BF%E8%AF%88%E7%97%85%E8%B5%9A%E6%9B%B9%E7%88%BD.png): Feng Monong (冯墨农), as named by the uploader, 1957 (edition named by the uploader; the scan's source edition is unidentified and may be a later reprint), Wikimedia Commons (no holding institution identified)

## Sources

- Wikipedia, 'Lianhuanhua' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lianhuanhua)
- Huntington Archive, Ohio State University, 'Literature in Line: Picture Stories in the Chinese Tradition' (https://huntingtonarchive.org/Exhibitions/litInLine.php)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Lianhuanhua Picture-Story Books”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/lianhuanhua/