Lü Boyou

Lü Boyou was a modern Chinese editor, educator and children's literature writer from Zhejiang, and a student of Li Shutong. He worked as an editor at Zhonghua Book Company, edited children's periodicals such as Children's World and Little Friend, and wrote An Introduction to Children's Literature, giving him a representative place in the history of children's literature theory and criticism in twentieth-century China. Public information on his life, including birth and death dates, is limited. Judging from the works held here, his writing was aimed at children and general readers and drew largely on myth, ancient history and classical fables: he produced readable surveys such as Ancient Myths and Talks on Ancient History, and also retold traditional stories in fairy-tale form in Chinese Fairy Tales and Fairy Tales from Han Feizi. Overall, he was skilled at turning classical texts and legends into plain, accessible narratives that combined information with interest, and his editorial and creative work helped promote children's publishing and the popularization of folk literature in his time.