SPRING FESTIVAL FEVER
From book fairs in Casablanca and Havana to libraries in Oxford and London, the spirit of Chinese New Year is infectious. Mei Jia reports.
As China celebrated the Spring Festival and the arrival of the Year of the Dog, in Morocco, four red lanterns and big Chinese decorative knots enlivened things at the China booth at the 24th Casablanca International Book Fair.
From Feb 8 to 18 (Feb 16 marked the start of the Chinese New Year this year), the book fair showcased 300 Chinese books (1,500 copies each) mostly in Arabic.
“The Monkey King masks we carried were audience favorites, but we also had red handheld fans with tai chi characters,” says Liu Yehua, from Renmin University Press.
Though the Spring Festival themed decorations meant extra baggage for Liu and her colleagues, she says it was worth the trouble.
“For book fair visitors (who came to the China stall), the Spring Festival (and its significance) is something they understood and represents China ,” says Liu, adding that after returning from Morocco she received greetings from foreign publishers, wishing her a happy and prosperous new year.
At the Casablanca fair, the children’s picture books got a lot of attention.
This was also because the Monkey King masks are based on illustrations from a new 10-volume picture book series inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West.
Many visitors also lingered at the booth looking at the two volumes of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China.
“I could tell that the visitors were interested in the books”, says Liu.
Books on China’s development and works of fiction were also in high demand.
A veteran in promoting Chinese publications abroad, Liu says she was impressed to see so many new Chinese titles in Arabic at the fair.
“It was not like this 10 years ago. I know it takes time to see results, but now I can see the effect,” she says.
She says the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-proposed connectivity project, has seen increased interest from Arabic readers in China, “as the locals are feeling more connected (with China)”, especially when it comes to contemporary issues.
“Book fairs like this add to the channels of mutual understanding and opens new avenues for cooperation,” she says.
Meanwhile, Renmin University Press concluded agreements with Moroccan, Egyptian and Lebanese publishers on five titles, including China Economy 2040.
Separately, the Spring Festival mood was evident in Cuba earlier at the Havana International Book Fair (Feb 1-11), where China was the guest of honor.
Speaking about the Havana event, Jiang Shan from China Intercontinental Press, who has been to the fair many times, says: “This year, Chinese publishers had more room for our books at the Castillo de San Carlos.”
China Intercontinental Press took 120 titles to the fair, mainly focused on traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese language, culture and literasible ture, says Jiang.
In a related development, there will be a China library built at the University of Havana to offer more access to Chinese books, both print and digital formats, according to Jiang.
Also, at the fair, the Foreign Language Press released the first 25 volumes of Library of Chinese Classics in Spanish.
And Yilin Press announced that it would join hands with Chile’s Lom Publishing to publish the Spanish version of veteran literary critic Li Jingze’s first novel.
To mark the Spring Festival, 200 bookstores overseas also held promotional events.
And, online, Amazon’s China Books had a page featuring English titles on Chinese culture, history and literature.
Chinese New Year is also a featured category in its holidays section.
According to a survey by China International Publishing Group about promoting China in English-speaking world, it was found that words related to culture form the majority of the 100 top ones.
Spring Festival was the most popular along with red envelop, lanterns and festival rush.
Su Yen Hu and her colleagues from Oxford-based Snowflake Books know this well because during the Spring Festival, Hu hosts workshops at libraries and museums in Oxford and London.
And, under their guidance, youngsters try out the dragon dance and other cultural elements featured in Snowflake’s bilingual books.
Hu says the audience reaction is always good when the participants spread the word about future events.
“We reach out to children in a way they are accustomed to, and we celebrate our shared values based on traditional Chinese tales and legends,” says Hu.