The 2017 Sino-Foreign Literature Translation and Publishing Workshop opens in Beijing on Aug. 21, 2017. [Photo/China.org.cn]

The 2017 Sino-Foreign Literature Translation and Publishing Workshop opened in Beijing on Aug. 21, 2017.

A total of 46 foreign writers, translators, publishers and critics in related fields will discuss with their Chinese peers ways to improve Chinese literature translation and publishing during the workshop.

“We hope to encourage more in-depth communication between Chinese and foreign professionals and institutions in the field of literature, publishing and translation, help them understand the dynamics of Chinese literature and publishing industries, and to find better ways to show Chinese culture to the world,” said Zhu Qi, deputy director of Bureau for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture, during his opening speech.

According to Jiang Haoshu, head of Translation Affairs at the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Culture, practicality will be one of the four features for this year’s workshop.

“This year’s forum is more results-oriented,” Jiang said. “We will arrange publishers from specific publishing groups, like China Publishing Group Corporation (CPG), to communicate with writers and translators on specific book projects.”

With the booming of internet related industries in China, a symposium on the overseas translation and publishing of Chinese network literature works will be another new feature for this year’s workshop.

The workshop pays great attention to local level cooperation between China and other countries. Jiang said there will also be a session during which diplomats from different countries and regions will be invited to introduce their countries’ policies on overseas translation and publication of Chinese literature.

Huang Youyi, executive vice president of the Translators Association of China, speaks at the Topic Speech session during the opening ceremony of the 2017 Sino-Foreign Literature Translation and Publishing Workshop. [Photo/China.org.cn]

Huang Youyi, executive vice president of the Translators Association of China, praised the timing of the workshop.

“The Belt and Road Initiative has brought tremendous opportunities to China’s translation industry. The increasing need for translation facing China’s translators makes the participation of foreign peers more important than ever. To my great pleasure, as for seminars like today, we have invited more foreign translators, and give them an opportunity to participate in the development of China's translation industry.”

A new report by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in late 2016 pointed out that the total value of China's cultural exports stood at US$60.1 billion, more than double that of the United States' 27.9 billion dollars.

During the 8-day-long workshop, there will be a book launch of the English version of Jia Pingwa’s book Happy. Jia is a well-known Chinese contemporary writer famous for his book The Abandoned Capital.

The workshop is jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture of China, China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) and the China Writers Association.

The 2017 Sino-Foreign Literature Translation and Publishing Workshop opens in Beijing on Aug. 21, 2017. [Photo/China.org.cn]