(President Xi Jinping’sThe Governance of China in Chinese,

Arabic and English is in the exhibition. [Photo by HouLiqiang/chinadaily.com.cn])

 

China's leading foreign language press will include a special bookshelf for their Arabic publications in the Middle East to meet the need of Arabic people wanting to know more about China.

 

Jing Xiaomin, vice president of China Intercontinental Press, announced the plan at the launch of a Chinese Book Exhibition Week in the International Book Center in Cairo on Tuesday, one day ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's State visit to Egypt, which falls on Wednesday to Friday. Jing said they will have fixed bookshelf for Chinese books in two bookstores in Egypt and one in United Arab Emirates.

 

Jiang Jianguo, minister of State Council Information Office and HaythamHajali, head of the Egyptian general book authority cut the ribbon for the Chinese Book Exhibition Week. More than 100 readers and students participated in the launching ceremony.

 

The exhibition includes more than 100 varieties books on national conditions of modern China, including Chinese cultural volumes, children's books, and Chinese classical literature. The Chinese, Arabic and English editions of President Xi Jinping's book, The Governance of China, is also being exhibited.

 

(Jiang Jianguo, minister of State Council Information Office,

visiting the book exhibition. [Photo by HouLiqiang/chinadaily.com.cn])

 

Jing said there had been more and more frequent contact between Chinese and Arabic people, but there is limited information for Arabic people wanting to know China. While foreign publishers have published some books about China, they are scattered among many other books and it's still not easy for readers to find them.

 

"To facilitate Arabic readers in finding Chinese books, we are launching a special product called 'That's'. We put Chinese books we have published in the fixed bookshelf,'' Jing said.

 

"The sales of those books can give us information about what Arabic readers are interested in, which can guide our job of choosing books to translate in the future,"she said.

 

Jing said they also plan to launch "That's" in South America.

 

"The cultural exchange between China and Egypt goes back to ancient time and publication circles of the two sides both have long history and good tradition,"Jiang said, addressing the ceremony, "The book exhibition week is a very good beginning. I hope publication circles of the two countries can continue to deepen cultural exchange and contribute more to the friendship of the two sides.

 

 

China and Egypt have translated a lot of books about each other. China Intercontinental Press has translated more than 100 editions of Chinese books into Arabic.

 

And according to Adel El Masry, head of the Egyptian publishers association, they have translated more than 100 Chinese books into Arabic from 1988 to 2014.

 

Ali Abel-Moneim, publisher of SAMA Publishing & Distribution, said they have published two Chinese books, China Wave and One Belt One Road, and will launch them at the International Cairo Book Fair next week. "We are going to publish 10 children's books and three novels as well."

 

"One Belt, One Road is nowadays very important for all sides, not only one side. You see what happened in Middle East, the crisis in economy and in military and the crisis of terrorism. It's crazy. It's the only initiative to make peace and growth for economy for people and cooperation for people," he said as he explained the reason for publishing One Belt, One Road.

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016xivisitmiddleeast/2016-01/19/content_23156138_3.htm