Spring, books and fun in the air

"Now Arabic readers' interest in Chinese books is expanding from literature, learning Chinese language and getting to know more of China, to that even of Chinese web novels," al-Saeed says.

In fact, his team is launching a mobile app on the popular genre to cater to increasing demand.

He has set up branches in other Arabic countries including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar; and has taken more than 1,000 Chinese titles to 14 book fairs in the Arab world.

In addition, al-Saeed took about 100,000 items of creative cultural products inspired either by China's festive tradition or by the stories, tales and books to the fair. They turned out to be big sellers.