China presence speaks volumes at book fair

Nation's 40 publishing houses display 2,300 titles at prestigious London event

More than 2,300 titles from over 40 Chinese publishing houses have come to this year's London Book Fair, which ended on Thursday.

It is the first time since the pandemic that Chinese publishing delegations have come to the world's premier publishing event, which saw participation from more than 1,700 publishing companies and agencies from 60 countries in the exhibition hall of Olympia London this year.

Chinese publishing companies, including China Publishing Group, China International Communications Group, and Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing & Media Group, held some 30 activities during the three-day fair.

The Chinese version of British scholar Martin Albrow's China and the Shared Human Future: Exploring Common Values and Goals was launched at the fair. The English version of the book, which was first published last year, now has a revised edition.

Albrow is a renowned globalization theorist and a fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences.

The book is a compilation of Albrow's academic papers and writings, lectures, and speeches at academic and public conferences and media for over a decade since he started to pay much attention to the issue of global governance and China.

It is an extension of his 2018 book, China's Role in the Shared Common Future: Towards Theory for Global Leadership, which focuses on globalization as well as his explorations on China's readiness to play a bigger role in global affairs.

It offers insights into how China is trying to shape a global society, enabling readers to grasp the author's thoughts and opinions in the context of China in a global setting, both in theory and on practical themes, such as fighting COVID-19, the Belt and Road Initiative and China's poverty alleviation measures, according to the book's publisher Global Century Press.

Rising stature

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.