3,200 Chinese titles on show at London event

Renowned fair encourages readers to comprehend China through literature

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

The three-day event, which kicked off on Tuesday, 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 copyright trade, authors meet translators, and literary scouts look for potential bestsellers.

Chinese publishers, including China Publishing Group, China International Communications Group and China Renmin University Press, are showcasing a wide range of books, including politics, culture and academic subjects, at the 454-square-meter China Booth. 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 in 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.”

At the fair, Routledge, a subdivision of Taylor & Francis, 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 on both global topics and China-related themes.

Close collaboration

The two agencies 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 Happiness in Being Ordinary: Stories from a Vocational School.

Yao Li, the book’s author and founder of China’s first private, charitable vocational high school, recounts her school’s 18-year journey in the book.

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 showcasing books, Chinese publishers have also organized about 30 activities at the fair, some of which were 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 co-organized by China Science Publishing & Media and EDP Sciences, a scientific publisher in Paris.

“The book fair primarily serves to promote ideas exchanges and cultural communication, with books being just one medium,” Chen Liang, deputy general manager of China Science Publishing & Media, said.

“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 their debut at the fair.

Lu Min, an author from 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, published by Yilin Press, is a realistic story chronicling 40 years of an entrepreneur’s family, as China undergoes dramatic social and economic progress that has shaped it since the 1980s.

Lu said she spent seven years researching on the novel, and two years writing it.