China 'Guest of Honor' at BookExpo America

2015-05-22  Source: China.org.cn

The 2015 BookExpo America (BEA) will open in New York on May 27, and for the first time, China is the guest of honor at the expo’s Global Market Forum. In a recent interview with China.org.cn, Fang Zhenghui, vice president of China International Publishing Group (CIPG), who is leading the Chinese delegation, discussed the Chinese books to be displayed at the expo as well as the future of the Chinese publishing industry.

Vice President of China International Publishing Group Fang Zhenghui

China as Expo guest of honor

The BEA is known as the world’s largest event showcasing books in English as well as the most influential annual international book fair in America. "The U.S. publishing market is one of the largest in the world, so BEA has much influence," Fang said.

"As the Expo guest of honor, China will launch a series of activities to make BEA the largest China-U.S. publication exchange activity held by the Chinese publication industry so far," he added.

It provides a great opportunity for Chinese exhibitors, including CIPG, to present the Chinese publishing industry, improve international copyrights, and help Chinese books and Chinese culture to "go global."

Multilingual books with distinct China themes

As China's largest multilingual publishing institution, CIPG plans to display 865 book titles, 817 of which are multilingual, involving English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian and Korean versions. They account for 94 percent of CIPG’s books and 40 percent of all the Chinese books to be exhibited.

The books cover a wide range of topics -- Chinese culture, literature, Chinese language learning, traditional Chinese medicine and children’s stories, giving the world a full picture of China and demonstrating CIPG’s core competence in foreign language publishing, Fang said.

The exhibition pavilion will be designed with the theme of "experiencing China," said Fang. "CIPG has a 60-square-meter independent room that can hold more than 900 volumes. "With the support of professional overseas exhibition companies, we will improve our exhibition design and effect," he said.

Cultural exchanges and marketing promotion

Fang revealed that during the book expo, CIPG will launch a series of events to expand the influence of its publications. A promotion seminar for "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" and a launch ceremony and photo exhibition for "Shared Memories of the U.S. and China: The Pacific War Against Japanese Aggression" will be held at BEA’s China Pavilion.

The total print run of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" has approached 4.5 million since multilingual editions were published last September, becoming an important window for overseas readers to get a better understanding of Xi Jinping's thoughts on governing the country, said Fang.

"During the expo, we will invite government officials, experts on China issues, and representatives of Chinese institutions in the United States to deliver speeches, and we will encourage foreign media to cover the activities."

Meanwhile, a readers' forum and launch ceremony for the English edition of "I Am from Xinjiang on the Silk Road" in the China Books section of Amazon.com will be hosted by the China International Book Trading Corporation and New World Press in the digital publishing exhibition zone of the China Pavilion.

The Foreign Languages Press will also launch the book series "Decoding the CPC," Fang added.

Copyright exports and Chinese culture 'going global'

Fang stressed that as the largest foreign language publishing house in China, CIPG has been mainly focused on international copyrights. In 2014, CIPG granted 573 copyrights to 24 countries and regions across the world, an increase of 12.13 percent over the same period of the previous year. A total of 409, or more than 70 percent, went to developed countries like the United States, Germany, Canada and France.

"Over the past 10 years, CIPG has published more than 5,000 multilingual book titles, an average of 1.3 per day; 3,873 copyrights, an average of more than one per day, have been registered covering more than 180 countries and regions."

According to Fang, readers hope to know more about contemporary China in the fields of politics, economy and culture. "That means there are still not enough books on these subjects, so that is the direction for our future efforts," said Fang.