Frankfurt book fair provides window for understanding China

People talk at the Chinese publishers' exhibition area at the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

FRANKFURT, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- At the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair, which kicked off on Wednesday, the latest publications from China appeared as a favorable window for global readers to catch on to the ideas behind the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Within the same week, China successfully held the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, which drew the attention of multiple international experts and readers at the book fair.

"Within only 10 years, the BRI has already become a new concept and practice for cooperation between China and the rest of the world," said Cord Eberspaecher, a German sinologist and historian, during the book fair.

Talking about a book of Chinese President Xi Jinping's discourses on the initiative, titled "The Belt and Road Initiative," Eberspaecher said the goals listed in the book have been largely achieved, including enhancing policy communication, road connectivity, unimpeded trade, monetary circulation, and understanding between people.

The book provides a compilation of remarks by Xi on the initiative between 2013 and 2018 and contains 42 articles drawn from the speeches and public remarks made by Xi.

Visitors walk past the Chinese publishers' exhibition area at the 75th Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)

Burkhard Risse, a translation expert with China's Foreign Languages Press, said while translating the book, he encountered many new concepts and expressions related to the initiative.

Translating the book into German is helpful for German-speaking readers to better understand these ideas, he said.

As the world's largest book fair in terms of the number of publishing companies represented, the event running through Sunday focuses on the most pressing issues related to literature and society.

During the event, former Slovenian President Danilo Turk said China's peaceful rise during the past decades represents the most important feature of global change. "A very positive change."

China is contributing not only to the economic improvement of the world but also to the creation of hope that the world will progress in the future, he said.