A literary splash

Chinese authors make their presence known at one of the world's largest book fairs

Western readers have great expectations of Chinese authors, according to veteran Sinologist Michael Kahn-Ackermann.

"They're supposed to represent their society, culture, history and the whole country," he said at this year's six-day Frankfurt Book Fair, which concluded on Oct 23.

A section of the fair - "New Voices from China" - saw many Chinese writers participate in a wide range of discussions.

Yu Yishuang, a Beijing-based author, was among the speakers. So far, the 32-year-old has published two books of short stories set in Beijing.

She was introduced to an international audience in Frankfurt, saying she mostly cares about one thing in her writing: that the stories are well-written.

Yu's candid writings about her experiences in Chinese cities and failed relationships seem to be what led to her invitation to the fair.

Another invitee was Shanghai-based Lu Nei, 43, one of a number of Chinese authors who write about small towns.

Lu, whose first novel, Young Babylon, was published in English in 2015, says he writes about "the memories of my generation - of loneliness and life's absurdities".

At the fair, he told his audience a story about his father's obsession with the tango - how he hid his fondness for the South American dance style during China's "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and volunteered to teach others on the streets of Suzhou, a city in eastern China, for six years before the first dance venue appeared there in 1986.

Jing Barts, a publishing and cultural consultant, says Chinese authors received a lot of attention in Frankfurt from publishers and the media from Britain and Latin America.

The hosting of Chinese authors was among some 4,000 events at the fair this year.

As one of the world's biggest annual literary gatherings, the fair attracted 7,100 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, along with 277,000 commercial and private visitors, a press statement from organizers said.

In 2009, China was selected as a special guest country and took the largest delegation to the fair, comprising more than 1,000 publishing professionals and 100 writers. Since then, foreign publishers and readers seem to have shown greater interest in Chinese books. This year, the Chinese delegation had 150 members.

Chinese books, such as Keywords to Understand China by New World Press, were also launched at the fair.

Besides Yu and Lu, the Confucius Institute persuaded writers Liu Cixin, Yan Lianke, poet Wang Xiaoni and illustrator Xiong Liang to attend.

Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem, which has sold 160,000 copies in English, will be released in German soon. It is the first book of his now-famous trilogy to be published in the language.

Liu told his audience at the fair that he was seeking connections between the infinite universe and people. True to form, he said: "If we invited every human on Earth to a concert, Shanghai's Pudong Area would be big enough to contain them; and if we turned all humans into a meatball, the diameter of the ball would be no longer than nine kilometers."

"What I'm doing is offering fantasies," he said.

The Confucius Institute also presented an exhibition of children's picture books from China.

Jing Wei, the institute's deputy chief executive, said: "We have such a diversity of picture books in China. They tell the audience about how we cope with nature, where we are from and where we are going."

Russian publisher Maxim Lozovskiy, with Eksmo-AST Publishing - whose task at the fair was to follow the latest global trends - found the speeches by two representatives from China's publishing industry interesting. One was by Gong Shuguang, chairman of Hunan Publishing Investment Holding Group; the other was by Ma Minghui of Educational Science Publishing House.

Ma was among six "young talents" highlighted at this year's Frankfurt fair.

Gong says Chinese publishers shouldn't be content with the huge domestic book market. To that end, China International Publishing Group held a seminar comprising European experts who gave advice on titles aimed at the global market.

According to Susanne Barwick of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, Germany has a book market worth 9.2 billion euros ($10 billion; 8.2 billion), while China's market is worth 18 billion euros.

"China is the country that buys the most copyrights of German titles," Barwick says, adding that Germany buys mostly from English-speaking countries, followed by France and Japan.

Renate Reichstein, a former president of the Association of German Children's Book Publishers, says there's a huge gap between Chinese reading German books and vice versa.

Around 25 percent of the new titles published in Germany are translated, and China may rank between 20 and 25 in German copyright intakes. Further, up to 0.3 percent of its overall new titles originate in China.

"German publishers and readers should look east," Reichstein says of Chinese children's books.

German publisher Reclam's release of a full translation of Journey to the West by Eva Ludi Kong at the fair showed the continued interest in Chinese classics.

Even though this year's Chinese fair presence was larger than the previous two or three, Holger Volland, the fair's vice-president, says he hoped to see more Chinese writers in the future.

meijia@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/28/2016 page18)