Symposium on Chinese Literature Going Global Held in Beijing

In February， “A Flowing， Merging River of Literature -- Symposium on Chinese Literature Going Global” was held at the China International Exhibition Center （Chaoyang Hall）， the main venue of the 35th Beijing Book Fair.

At the meeting， Yuan Nan， chief editor of Yilin Press （hereinafter referred to as “Yilin”）， shared the full picture of how Yilin helps Chinese literature go global. As an important force in literary publishing in China， Yilin has built a platform where Chinese and world literary publishing are intertwined， providing a solid foundation to help Chinese literature go global. Yuan Nan said that “By the end of 2022， Yilin had exported 603 copyrighted items and established good business relations with more than 130 publishing institutions in more than 40 countries， covering 36 languages.” At the same time， Yilin has been actively promoting Chinese literature to the world. By planning with high standards， promoting with high efficiency， and implementing with high quality， Yilin has exported more than 30 language editions of important literary works by writers such as Lu Min， Xu Feng and A Yi， continuously enhancing the reputation and influence of Chinese literature at home and abroad. She elaborated on the specific initiatives of Yilin’s copyright export by giving examples of the multilingual dissemination of Lu Min’s works and Xu Feng’s Forget Me. In recent years， Yilin has exported seven language editions of five of Lu Min’s works， and the English edition was recommended by authoritative international media like Publishers Weekly and was selected as one of the top choices for the best Chinese novels in 2022 by the China-Britain Business Council. Published by the international publishing giant Simon amp; Schuster， the English edition of This Love Could Not Be Delivered received in-depth coverage in the mainstream media worldwide， and the Serbian edition was ranked on the list of good books in the authoritative local media. In just over a year since the simplified Chinese version of Forget Me was released， six other language editions and a traditional Chinese version have been published. The Chinese Embassy in Belgium praised Yilin for “actively expanding copyright export and cooperation and building a platform for Sino-Belgian literary exchanges.”

Shi Zhanjun， a member of the Party Group， secretary of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association and editor-in-chief of People’s Literature， Xu Zechen， a writer and the deputy editor-in-chief of People’s Literature， and Lu Min， a writer and the vice president of the Writer’s Association of Jiangsu Province， shared their views on Chinese literature going global from the perspective of being a publisher， a writer or a translator. Shi Zhanjun shared his experience in promoting Chinese literature to the world in a three-dimensional way， citing the success of the more than ten language editions of People’s Literature in different countries and regions around the world as a case study. He noted that People’s Literature and Yilin share a common experience in the progress of going global， that is， “China’s stories are narrated in the world.” He advocated finding common ground of value for world readers and believed that “literature is the best platform as literature starts from people’s emotions， the perception of the heart. It is a cultural and artistic way that is most likely to resonate among world readers.”

Xu Zechen and Lu Min， both being writers’ representatives， also shared their views on Chinese literature going global from different perspectives. Xu Zechen noted that Chinese literature has a long way to go. He believes that writers should adjust their thinking patterns from looking for the greatest common ground with other cultures to focusing on the uniqueness and differences in Chinese culture， “incorporating the narrative resources of Chinese traditional literature into their creations，” so that their works contain sufficient historical and cultural heritage. Xu Zechen said he has been making efforts in this regard and advocated that writers’ works should display “Chinese charm and Chinese style.”

Lu Min shared impressive stories behind book translation and of the two translators in German and Italian， and， through the output process of the Hungarian version， she talked about the continuous translation and promotion of Chinese literature from classical to modern and contemporary works by two generations of Sinologists in succession. Lu Min has bonded with the translators through their works and is pleased to see that overseas translators and readers may now regard “Chinese literature as literature itself， no longer as a curiosity and an existence with an established oriental image”. She also felt their sincerity as they love Chinese culture and are concerned about current China. Yilin noted that the export of The Golden River has been making progress， as the Serbian version has been exported and the English version is being discussed， and the translation of both is going well.

The event brought together professionals from the literary， publishing and translation fields for an in-depth and meaningful discussion on the writing， publishing， translation and spread of Chinese literature. As the bearer of Chinese spirit and Chinese values， and as the representative of Chinese image and Chinese life， Chinese literature has always played an irreplaceable role in cultural exchanges. The flowing river of Chinese literature will be more actively merged into the broader river of world literature， where more pieces of literature， civilizations and cultures will run into and mingle with each other， making human civilization even more radiant.