China and India Saturday expressed their hope to further cultural exchanges through publication cooperation. At the inaugural ceremony of the 24th World Book Fair of New Delhi, Chinese and Indian officials said the two countries are experiencing "a wind of change" in their interactions in cultural fields and publication in particular. Over 250 Chinese delegates were participating in the book fair, considered one of the biggest book fairs in Asia, as China is the guest of honor state.. "We are facing an important opportunity to strengthen the traditional friendship between our two countries with a booming cooperation of publication businesses in a new stage of such development since the beginning of the new century," said Sun Shoushan, vice minister from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China.
Chinese ambassador to India Le Yucheng said that with the coming of "China fever" in India and "India fever" in China, the publication has become an important means to promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. He cited a story of a mother in Mumbai hiring a Chinese language teacher to tutor her 19-month-old daughter Mandarin as an example of such a momentum. Indian Minister of Human Resources Development Smriti Irani said she would like to see a strengthening of teaching of Chinese in India and the teaching of Hindi in China to promote the traditional ties between the two countries.
She said while the Indian capital was having a windy day Saturday, the two countries are seeing a "wind of change" in their bilateral ties of cultural exchanges. The book fair, organized by the Indian National Book Trust, is hosting activities of over 30 countries from around the world. A special Chinese pavilion has been set up to cater for the needs of Indian readers to better understand Chinese culture by displaying tea and other cultural commodities, besides books in Chinese, English and Hindi from by Chinese publishing houses. Some Chinese writers and poets are also participating in the event to meet Indian writers and readers. Liu Zhengyun, a well-known Chinese writer from Henan province, said he would like to find out the common ground with Indian readers on the role. "Literature can help stop conflict as it is about human feelings, which are shared by all nations," he said.
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