The world takes a shine to Chinese literary culture

President Xi Jinping's book is highlighted at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, the event venue. [Photo by Mei Jia/China Daily]

Government data from August last year reveals that China published 444,427 titles in 2013, accounting for 8.3 billion copies, creating a business worth 234.6 billion yuan ($37.8 billion).

The United States and United Kingdom are China's top partners in terms of copyright trade. In 2013 China bought in 18,167 copyrights of foreign publications, among which 6,210 were from the US and 2,698 from the UK, data showed.

The same year, the country sold a total of 10,401 copyrights of Chinese publications to the international market, 1,266 to the US and 731 to the UK.

Though remaining unbalanced, Chinese publishers have already taken huge steps. In 2002 the ratio of imported copyrights to those of exported ones was 15 to 1.

Attending international book fairs is considered a positive move for Chinese titles to gain more global appeal.

"The Chinese guest of honor appearance is a hard act to follow," said Urszula Gacek, Polish consul general in New York, whose country will be guest of honor at next year’s event in Chicago.