Japanese versions of Bronze and Sunflower and Teenager Xi Mi, written by Cao Wenxuan.

Bronze and Sunflower and Teenager Xi Mi, written by Cao Wenxuan and published by Jiangsu Phoenix Juvenile and Children's Publishing Ltd, were recently published in Japanese.

Bronze and Sunflower tells the story of a friendship between country boy Bronze and city girl Sunflower. By chance, they became close friends, living and growing up together with their parents and grandma. The two children lived a hard but optimistic life and face a flood, locust plague, and other disasters together.

Bronze and Sunflower tells the story of a friendship between country boy Bronze and city girl Sunflower.

Since it was first published in 2005, the book has been exported to 17 countries, including South Korea, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy. In 2017, it was shortlisted for book lists compiled by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly, and also received the Freeman Book Awards.

Teenager Xi Mi depicts a coming-of-age story of a boy named Xi Mi who always blushes.

Teenager Xi Mi tells a coming-of-age story about a boy named Xi Mi who always blushes.

The two books were exported to a Japanese publishing company and published as Chinese youth literature series this year. This is the first time that the works of a Chinese children's author have been published in Japan as part of the series.

The works of Cao Wenxuan, a children's author, professor at Peking University, and vice-chairman of the Beijing Writers Association, have been translated into English, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, and other languages.

In 2016, Cao became the first Chinese writer to win the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition given to an author and illustrator of children's books.