China presence speaks volumes at book fair(2)

With China's rising stature, the demand from foreign readers for books on contemporary China is growing, leading to several cooperation agreements having been signed between Chinese and foreign publishers at the fair.

The Foreign Languages Press, under the China International Communications Group, has signed pacts with Turkiye's Canut International Publishers and Lebanon's Arab Scientific Publishers to publish a series of China-themed books, including the book, An Open China: Creating a New Dynamic in the New Era and China, Land of Ceremony and Propriety.

Deniz Kizilcec, editor-in-chief of Canut International Publishers, said: "All peoples of the world, no matter their different histories, cultures, and systems, are required to understand and learn from each other's wisdom, and build consensus and mutual trust."

On the titles on China's constructive approach to global issues, Kizilcec said they have published several academic titles on the concept of a shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative, which have all received good responses from the readers.

The Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, based in Beijing, signed an agreement with Springer Nature Group to publish a series of 20-30-minute videos titled The Uniqueness of Chinese Civilization in World History, based on a book written by renowned Sinologist Guy Salvatore Alitto.

The cooperation was a pioneering initiative in the field of social sciences and humanities, which would help to present scholars' concepts in multimedia in the digital era, so as to enhance the understanding of Chinese culture for overseas readers, according to the publishers.

Several literary works by Chinese authors, which were recently translated into English, made their debut at the fair.

Xue Mo, a writer from Gansu province, said he got his latest book, Into the Desert, translated into English by Howard Goldblatt, a renowned translator of Chinese literary works. "As a Chinese writer, it is important to understand how far the world's publishing industry, books, and literature have come in order to enhance our own understanding," he said.

Nicky Harman, a Chinese-English literary translator, said she was pleased to see young translators establishing contact with more Chinese publishers again as business gets back to normal. "This could be the beginning of a lot of publishing projects," said Harman.