CHILDREN are avid comic book readers. But most of us gradually forget them as we grow older. Among those who still keep the habit of reading comic books, there are a few who are determined to keep their childhood memories by taking up a profession related to comic books. Chang Yi’an (alias) is one of them.

Chang graduated from a university in Wuhan, Hubei Province in 2000. He came to Shenzhen to work in the software industry, and within two years quickly accumulated his first bucket of gold — more than 1 million yuan (US$156,855). As his age approached 30, he began mulling a job change, seeking to “do something I’m really interested in.”

His decision was to open an online store selling lianhuanhua, a type of palm-sized comic book that was popular in China in the 20th century, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. The themes of lianhuanhua ranged from Chinese classics such as “A Dream of Red Mansions,” foreign classics such as “One Thousand and One Nights,” modern Chinese history, the stories of great names in the history, to original stories such as “Calabash Brothers” and “Black Cat Detective.” According to Chang, these comic books brought much pleasure to Chinese people living in the 70s and 80s in a time when entertainment was extremely limited.

“We really wanted to read comic books, but we had no pocket money to buy them then,” Chang recalled  in an interview with CCTV. “So I would look for garbage that could be resold like copper wire, and sell it on a regular basis to save money. It took me quite a long while to save three to five yuan, with which I could buy around 10 comic books. That was really a lot of joy.”

Chang’s online comic book store sells both original copies dating back to several decades ago and reprinted versions published in recent years. Most of the reprinted versions are bought by parents for their children, while the original copies are usually sought after by lianhuanhua collectors like him. He told reporters that he has spent over 1 million yuan on a few thousand original copies over the past years, and in those instances when he owns more than one copy, he would post them online for sale or exchange. The value of these comic books has risen to between 3 and 4 million yuan.

Among his huge collection, the most expensive set of books is the second edition of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” published by Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House in the 1960s, which he bought for more than 100,000 yuan. To ensure they were properly delivered to Chang, the former owner of the books, who was then living in the United States, asked his wife who was about to come back to China for a family visit to bring the books with her. She then flew all the way from Heilongjiang Province in the northernmost tip of China to Shenzhen to visit Chang, and they closed the deal in a KFC restaurant. Chang said that he would not consider selling them at a price lower than 500,000 yuan.

To keep his collections properly, Chang seals them in plastic bags, and stores them in a five-square-meter warehouse he rents. However, with hot and damp weather, Shenzhen is not the most ideal city for comic book storage. Chang therefore bought an apartment in Wuhan to store most of the collections. For those with a high value or that he likes most, he would even put them in a safe.

Chang said that his online store has on average 1,000 Taobao user visits per day. The prime time for selling in a year is around Children’s Day, but he is seeing an increasing number of customers buying them as gifts for friends and elder family members.

When asked what makes lianhuanhua collectible, Chang said that childish as they may seem, they are actually works of art produced by top-notch painters and literary masters. In an era when electronic devices were unavailable, these comic books were also an important channel for children to acquire knowledge. “They’re a milestone and a symbol of that era.”

Chang told reporters that he wishes that one day he could open a lianhuanhua museum.

“A space with these books displayed on all walls,” he envisioned with excitement shining in his eyes.” For people who are born in the 70s and 80s like me, walking into such a space must be like a travel back in time.” (Yu Yuanfan)