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The Beijing book fair witnessed a rise in foreign demand for contemporary Chinese literature but authors here say more needs to be done. Liu Zhihua and Xing Yi report.

Ahmed Alsaeed, a copyright agent from Egypt, had little time to catch his breath during the 21st Beijing International Book Fair, held from Aug 27 to 31, but the running around helped him.

He managed to sign contracts with eight leading Chinese publishing houses to translate and publish the books of Chinese authors in the Arab world, including those of Zhou Daxin and Liu Zhenyun.