London Book Fair kicks off with strong Chinese participation

More than 3,200 China-themed titles from around 50 Chinese publishers have been brought to this year's London Book Fair, one of the world's largest publishing trade fairs.

The event, which kicked off on Tuesday and is scheduled to run until Thursday, boasts the participation of more than 30,000 publishing professionals and 1,000 companies from around the globe.

Founded in 1971, the event has evolved into a major global copyright marketplace, where publishers such as HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Macmillan, and Penguin Random House, talk about the copyright trade, authors meet translators, and literary scouts look for potential best-sellers.

Chinese publishers, including China Publishing Group, China International Communications Group, and China Renmin University Press, are showcasing a wide range of books on a range of subjects, including politics, culture, and academic subjects, at the China Booth, which occupies 454 square meters of the exhibition space. One-third of the titles brought by Chinese publishers are foreign-language editions.

With China's growing stature, foreign publishers have emphasized the necessity for readers to comprehend contemporary China through books.

"It is vital that scholarship from China reaches the rest of the world," said Jeremy North, managing director for books publishing at Taylor &Francis Group, an international academic publisher headquartered in Oxfordshire, England. "There should be this interchange of ideas, both for researchers and for students, if we think about the subjects, such as humanities, history, and governance. When it comes to sciences, wonderful work is being done in China in the technology field, and the rest of the world needs to understand those advances as it is for the benefit of the people around the world."

On Tuesday at the fair, Routledge, a subdivision of Taylor &Francis Group, co-launched two new titles in the China Perspectives series with China Renmin University Press. The series focuses on publishing original and translated works by leading Chinese scholars, writing about both global topics and China-related themes.

China Renmin University Press and Routledge have collaborated to publish more than 40 titles in the series.

Also on Tuesday, Lebanon's Arab Scientific Publishers signed cooperation agreements with China's Foreign Languages Press to publish the Arabic version of a book titled Happiness in Being Ordinary: Stories from a Vocational School. In the book, Yao Li, author and founder of China's first private, charitable vocational high school, recounts her school's 18-year journey.

When asked about the reason for furthering partnership with Chinese publishers, Bassam Chebaro, president of Arab Scientific Publishers, said: "Any book that benefits the Chinese people should also benefit the Arab people, as China is trying its best to upgrade and build a nation for peace."

In addition to presenting books, Chinese publishers have also organized some 30 activities during the three-day fair, some of which are to center on trending topics, such as low-carbon development and artificial intelligence. One such event, a forum for the discussion of technologies to promote green transition, was held on Tuesday. The event was co-organized by China Science Publishing &Media Ltd and EDP Sciences, a scientific publisher headquartered in Paris, France.

"The book fair primarily serves to promote ideas exchanges and cultural communication, with books being just one medium," said Chen Liang, deputy general manager of China Science Publishing &Media Ltd. "As publishers, we hope to use books as a means to introduce China's achievements to the world. We are also willing to work with publishers and the scientific community worldwide to fulfill our mission of promoting green development."

Several literary works by Chinese authors that have recently been translated into English have also made debuts during the fair.

Lu Min, a Chinese author from East China's Jiangsu province, had a book launch for her award-winning novel The Golden River on Wednesday, with translation by Nicky Harman and Jack Hargreaves, two leading British translators.

The book, which is published by Yilin Press, is a realistic story chronicling an entrepreneur's family during 40 years, as China undergoes the dramatic social and economic progress that has shaped it since the 1980s.

Lu said she prepared for the novel for decades and spent seven years in research, and two years writing it.