More than 130 Chinese publishing companies with over 1,000 books drew attention from international counterparts at the 67th Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.

As one of the world's largest events for the publishing industry, the fair, lasting from Oct 14 through 18, attracted 7,200 exhibitors from more than 100 countries and regions as well as about 270,000 visitors.

"The Frankfurt Book Fair is a professional copyright trade event," said Liu Yi, general manager of China Universal Press & Publication Co. "Over recent years, the Chinese exhibitors have shifted their focus from imports to exports, and had over 1,000 copyright export projects at each Frankfurt Book Fair."

Chinese publishers exported more than 4,200 copyrights last year, People's Daily reported.

Juergen Boos, director of the fair, told the newspaper that China has become the top book publisher in the world, and Chinese publishing companies are expanding overseas to influence the global market.

"They are no longer content with just bringing the world's popular books to China, but are paying more attention to the introduction of Chinese books to the world market," said Boos.

Peter Coebergh, executive vice-president of the Netherlands-based publishing house Brill, told Guangming Daily that there are an increasing number of international books going to China and Chinese books going to the world, which brings about win-win effects.

The organizer of the event listed the top seven key publishing markets in the world and China was included, with estimated market value of $24 billion last year.

"We are glad to find that the Western mainstream publishers are interested in our serious academic works," said Liu Zhong, director of the international cooperation department of China Publishing Group Corp.

He said an example of this was The Core Value of Chinese Civilization, which attracted many foreign publishing companies asking for copyright licensing.

One of the highlights for the Beijing Publishing Group was The Jade King: History of a Chinese Muslim Family. The first edition of the book was published in 1988, and more than 3 million copies of the book have been sold during the past three decades.

"The sales performance shows that the vitality of classic literature never fades throughout history," said Gao Lizhi, deputy editor-in-chief of the company.

There was a Beijing-themed exhibition area led by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

Zhang Su, a senior official of the bureau, said the increase of China's publication exports depends on the efforts of not only the government and State-owned enterprises, but also the private sector, as it is closer to the market and understands the readers better.

The Beijing Publishing Creative Industry Park, established in 2010, has attracted more than 50 companies, many of which have seen robust growth worldwide, Zhang said.

He added that the Frankfurt fair will help Beijing learn about the latest information from the world market and tailor-make products that combine Chinese characteristics and international demands.

One of the books making its debut at the fair was the Jewish Refugees and Shanghai series, published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press.

The publisher said they will publish the English version of the series, and cooperate with Chinese and a number of foreign institutes to continue research on the history of Jewish refugees in China during World War II.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/21/2015 page16)