The Greek Book as a permanent source of cultural contacts between Greece and China

Greece will be present in the 24th annual Beijing International Book Fair between August 24-28 and aspires to present the Chinese book lovers with an array of most recent publications in Greece as well as other significant classical titles that have constantly attracted readers attention in the past. The Greek participation exhibition is organized by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture and is assisted by the Embassy of Greece in Beijing, its Press and Communication Office and the Greek National Tourism Organization.

The Greek Pavilion will comprise 18 sq m. with more than 100 titles including fiction, poetry, albums, travel books, books for kids and comics, in Greek, Chinese and English languages.

During the exhibition a presentation event will be held on translating Greek Literature into Chinese. The topic of the presentation this year is “Zorbas in China, translating Nikos Kazantzakis” and will be presented by the well known translators Mr LI Chenggui and the historian QUE Jianrong. (The event is assisted by the Beijing University, and Eleni Avramidou teaching Greek Language and History). Chargé d’ affaires Ms Elisabeth Fotiadou will address the event on behalf of the Embassy of Greece.

Promoting Greek publications in China is a major concern of Greece’s competent authorities under the Ministry of Culture such as the Hellenic Foundation for Culture that oversees similar efforts (initially undertaken by EKEBI – the National Book Centre of Greece.

The cultural and educational exchanges between the two countries has been placed highly on the agenda of the recent visit of the Greek PM Alexis Tsipras to China and was a topic of discussion with his meetings with President Xi, PM Li, and head of the NPC Zhang Dejiang.

Recently HCF President professor Konstantinos Tsoukalas met with Chinese Vice President for Press and Media Wu Shangzhi, and discussed the long cultural ties between the two countries that have included the nomination of China as honor country in the famed International Book Fair of the city of Thessaloniki in Greece in 2008. This event has strongly assisted bilateral ties in different fields beyond that of publishing and books; this year China participated again in the Thessaloniki Book Fair with a larger ever pavilion of 80 sq. m. and the presence of 40 publishers.

Greece has actively participated in the Bejing International Book Fair since 2006. More than 200 Greek books have been published in China including ancient literature, poetry, and many modern writers such as Nikos Kazantzakis, Odysseus Elytis, C.P. Cavafy, have been translated, along with the works of many contemporary writers, into Chinese.