Chinese works make big impression during London Book Fair

Some 4,000 titles brought by more than 50 Chinese publishers to this year's London Book Fair highlight such things as China's development, cultural exchanges between civilizations, and the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II.

The fair, running from Tuesday to Thursday at the London Olympia exhibition center, is one of the world's major publishing and copyright marketplaces.

Inaugurated in 1971, the annual event has become a get-together for the global publishing community, to develop relationships and gain insights into the future of content creation.

Around 1,000 publishers, including publishing giants such as Bloomsbury, Macmillan, and Penguin Random House, and 30,000 professionals in the trade attended this year's London Book Fair.

The large-scale participation from China drew strong interest from global publishers, according to Adam Ridgway, director of the London Book Fair.

At the Reading China exhibition area, key titles were on display explaining China's governance and development miracles, including the first and second volumes of Selected Readings from the Works of Xi Jinping, and the four volumes of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, as well as books about China's poverty alleviation and the country's modernization.

In partnership with publishers in the UK, China Social Sciences Press on Tuesday launched the English versions of The World Significance of China's Economic Development, Research on the Governance Value of Poverty Reduction in China, and Towards Renaissance and Prosperity: Modernization of Great Power Governance.

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

Marcelino Elosua, founder and chair of LID Business Media, an international publisher of business and self-development books founded in Spain, which has been operating its China businesses for more than 10 years, said the economic expansion and manufacturing boom in China attracted him to establish a presence there, as the management techniques behind the success of local companies must be "very interesting".

"Our goal in that respect is to promote the image of Chinese companies abroad…another goal is to help foreign employees of Chinese companies to understand what their companies are," he said.

Chinese culture, whether embedded in classic fantasy or down-to-earth local fiction, has been another key area of collaboration.

Roberto Nardini, vice-president of the Italy-based international publishing house White Star — which has been working with Chinese publishers for more than 20 years, and has expanded its publishing interests from Chinese culture and tourism to food, innovation breakthroughs, and climate action — said the aim was to explore common interests out of curiosity and bridge civilizations between the East and the West against the political backdrops.

"These are stories, and we're here to tell stories, to explain to the people what's happening, where the trends are. This is part of our job," he said. "It's something that is continuing, and we'd like to expand our presence."

A small exhibition titled Symphony of Love and Dreams: The Theatrical Worlds of Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare also drew visitors wanting to learn about the stories and works of the two contemporary great playwrights, with items on offer including the poetic English translation of Tang's The Peony Pavilion and the Chinese translation Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Through illustrated panels, precious manuscripts, and multimedia presentations, the exhibition highlighted the two literary masters' profound insights into human nature and their timeless tributes to love, showcasing the enduring significance of cultural exchange between Eastern and Western civilizations.

Liu Zhenyun, one of China's most celebrated literary figures, was set to feature at the fair, in conversation with Jenny Niven, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Nicky Harman, a leading British literary translator, during which they were set to discuss how Liu's storytelling resonates across cultures and how Chinese literature is increasingly shaping the global literary landscape.

Chinese publishers also brought books to mark this year as the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II, among which was the Chinese version of Blades of Grass – The Story of George Aylwin Hogg.

Hogg was a British journalist and schoolteacher who went to China in 1938 and reported on the atrocities committed by the Japanese before later serving as a teacher, then headmaster of the Bailie School in Shuangshihpu, Shaanxi province, which later moved to Gansu province.

During wartime, Hogg wrote about the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and his experiences working with villagers turning a backward rural village society into a self-sustaining communized economy. He died due to a tetanus infection in 1945, one month before the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.