In far-flung places, readers are given a taste of Chinese literature and of the year's biggest festival

Spring Festival elements added sparkle to cities such as Cairo, Casablanca and Havana, as key international book fairs were held coinciding with one of the most important dates for Chinese people.

The Salah El-Din Citadel in Cairo, a historical site from the medieval era, was lit up in red on Jan 28 to celebrate the beginning of Spring Festival.

In the city's international exhibition center more than 600 kinds of Chinese books in Arabic were on display in hutong-like shelves decorated with red lanterns, knots, and other objects believed to bring auspicious greetings. The annual Cairo fair, the 50th, ran from Jan 22 to Feb 5, finishing on the first day of Spring Festival.

One of the major publishers of Chinese titles in Arabic there, Ahmed al-Saeed, president of Wisdom House, says: "I see such huge growth in my publishing company since the foundation of it in 2011 that this year I even got a special honor from the Cairo fair's organizers."

"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.

A seminar was thus arranged during the Cairo fair to explore more collaboration and exploration on creating cultural products, which was also a popular topic among Chinese publishers in the home market. Citing the successful practice of the Palace Museum in calling upon wide interest in the country's cultural root via ways that appeal to the younger generations, the speakers hope their cooperation will inspire same blooms of creations based on the Egyptian history and culture, as rich and long as that of China's.

There are 50,000 audiences visiting the China booth and 30,000 copies sold by rough daily estimation, according to Guangming Daily.

Sinolingua Press opened up a new overseas editorial office in Cairo with its Egyptian partners during the fair. And the office' newly released series of language learning and basic knowledge about Chinese culture attracted attention.

While in Morocco's largest city, Casablanca, children crowd the Chinese booths on the 25th Casablanca International Fair to get a gift of Chinese character "fu" in calligraphy which stands for good luck and a copy of their names handwritten in Chinese on red paper.

"We planned the 'fu' calligraphy, but the fair visitors are zealous about seeing their names in Chinese characters, so we added that to the gift-for-free list," says Liu Yehua of China Renmin University Press.

Items with Chinese elements or for Spring Festival celebrations that are on sale are just as popular.

"The children are just amazed by the beauty of Chinese writing," Liu says. "And for the visitors to the fair, Spring Festival offers a chance to speak about it and know more about China."

China Renmin University Press joined China Intercontinental Press as well as People & Tangel Publishing House at the Moroccan fair, which opened on Feb 7 and ran until Feb 17, while China Intercontinental took books in Spanish to the Havana International Book Fair.

The year celebrates the 60th anniversary of establishing Sino-Moroccan diplomatic relations. The Chinese delegation brings 5,000 copies in Arabic and French to the fair. And 1,000 copies of books in 300 Chinese titles are donated to University of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah to enhance the ties.

To Liu, director of International Publishing Center of the press, the Casablanca fair is just like a family reunion of the Belt and Road Academic Publishing Alliance of publishing houses from countries involved with the Belt and Road Initiative.

Established in 2017, the alliance has attracted 207 publishing partners from 44 countries, among which 29 are from the Arab world.

"And we'll probably have new members after the fair," Liu says, adding that the Moroccan readers are well-educated and are interested in China's traditional culture, TCM, language learning, the initiative and how China develops.

They seek answers from two volumes of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, as well as the new Arabic version of a book published by People's Publishing House, about the interpretations and explanations on Xi's governing ideas and theories in 30 categories by experts from the Party School of the Central Committee of CPC. Besides, the French version of New Education in China and Jin Canrong's Big Power's Responsibility are among the most popular.

The press sold copyright of The World for the Public-Chinese Socialism and the Long Twenty-first Century to Oman Press of Morocco, Ihetiravo Press of Algeria and Hikmet Press Egypt. The book, written by young scholars, covers topical, up-todate subjects in theory and social reality and looks at China's socialist path.

Mohamed Maalej, president of the Tunisian Publishers Association and a board member of the Arabic Publishers Association, says: "The Belt and Road Initiative has brought unprecedented opportunities to Sino-Arab publishing collaboration and the transmission and exchange of the two ancient civilizations. I believe that the book will bring a new trend of publishing Chinese content to the Arabic book market and benefit both the publishers and readers."

China' s Ambassador to Morocco Li Li says publishing has become an important part of Sino-Arab collaboration. Warm relationships between the publishers have increased people's confidence in future collaboration, exchanges and understanding between China and Arab countries.

Zhao Haiyun, an official of the National Administration of Press and Publication, says China will support and encourage more collaboration in forms including the publishing alliance with publishers from the countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative this year and will support Chinese publishers and the Guest of Honor events in international book fairs, as with the Teheran International Book Fair in April.