Chinese Bookshelf’ launched in London

by Mingmei

‘Chinese Bookshelf’, a project which aims to provide local readers an access to Chinese books and culture, was launched in London last week.

Located inside Foyles Bookstore on Charing Cross Road, near the British Museum and Chinatown, the Chinese Bookshelf introduces more than 100 kinds of books such as literature, folk-tale, economic publications and political works.

Carmelo Puglisi, head of foreign language books at Foyles, said that the bookshop has always attached great importance to Chinese books and started selling them years ago.

"We had introduced books on Chinese culture to the UK and we thought what's available is limited. We try to get more books on arts, literature, politics and history. That's why we decided to join the project," Puglisi said.

Pi Jun, president of China Youth Publishing Group, said the Chinese Bookshelf is an important measure to meet Western readers' increasing need to learn about China through high-quality books.

Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to Britain, said in a congratulatory letter to the launching ceremony that the carefully selected books in the Chinese Bookshelf will serve as a bridge for cultural exchanges and a window for Western readers to understand China.

Richard Charkin, a world-renowned publisher and former president of the International Publishers Association, said at the launch ceremony that as an old friend who has been working closely with many Chinese publishers, he is happy to see further globalisation of Chinese publishing through projects such as the Chinese Bookshelf.

“Chinese publishing has transformed itself in the last 10 to 20 years, and it is now amongst the leading publishing nations of the world ... I think the more the Chinese and Western publishers can develop global Chinese books, journals, databases, the more understanding there will be between the East and West,” he said.

Xinhua