Publishers eyeing a hat-trick of successes

Of the 5.36 million copies of Xi's The Governance of China, 400,000 were sold overseas[Photo by Peng Yining/Asianewsphoto]

Chinese publishers are seeking a hat-trick－hoping their books this year will replicate the extraordinary success of two Chinese works in international markets last year.

One of them was by President Xi Jinping and the other by science fiction writer Liu Cixin.

Of the 5.36 million copies of Xi's The Governance of China, 400,000 were sold overseas, while Liu's The Three-Body Problem won him the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novel last year, making him the first Asian writer to claim the prize.

Liu Yuhong, director of the Promotion Center at Foreign Language Press, which published The Governance of China, said that among the works it plans to publish this year is one that looks at the power of Xi's language, and another about the president and the Chinese Dream.

Huo Xingchen, director of international cooperation at Central Compilation & Translation Press, said overseas readers are particularly keen on learning about new policies announced and promoted by Xi.

The company is publishing extracts of Xi's essays, giving English-language speakers the chance to read his views on the importance of tackling corruption and advancing the rule of law.

At the New Delhi World Book Fair on Jan 10, Li Yan, from China Publishing Group Corp, said the company had launched a cloud computing service aimed at promoting the translation of Chinese into other languages. China was guest of honor at the New Delhi fair.