CRI听力: China Hosts Guest of Honor Activities at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair

As one of the key guest of honor activities, the Exhibition of Modern Chinese Arts has attracted many visitors since the book fair kicked off. More than 30 art works, including watercolor paintings, oil paintings, and wood engravings, are conveying the face of modern Chinese arts to the world. A German artist says he is impressed.

"The styles of these works are totally different. They are brilliant. I am very happy I can see Chinese art works in Frankfurt."(www.hXen.com)

This is just a part of a whole year's worth of guest of honor promotion activities. Now, foreign friends can get a glimpse of various Chinese art forms during the book fair, including Tibetan Tangka, embroidery, paper cutting, and traditional puppetry. Visitors will be able to observe and even study these classical Chinese art forms up close.

As a major guest of honor exhibition project, the China Pavilion is a place where visitors can experneice strong Chinese culture flavor via modern visual art forms. For chief designer of the theme museum Li Jiwei, combining and presenting China's profound 5,000-year-old culture within the 2,500-square-meter museum was challenging work.

"I selected four elements of Chinese culture as the major art forms — paper, movable-type printing, books and ink. A 69-meter-long book wall with 11,000 old-style books, a sculpture made of 1,100 differently-shaped Chinese characters, the spreading of a drop of ink in the water displayed via digital art - all these are meant to reveal the spirit of Chinese culture by using the visual impact of Western modern art."

A German visitor expresses his feelings after viewing the theme museum of China.

"Lots of Chinese letterings, lots of exhibits that I haven't seen before. Lots of old books, even the showcase are really nice."

Four forums held by the guest of honor during the book fair are also a highlight. The growth in China's publishing industry despite the financial crisis drew much attention from its foreign counterparts at an summit on the economy at the book fair.

Liu Binjie, head of China's General Administration of Press and Publication, gave the details.

"Statistics show that in 2008, China published more than 270,000 books and printed altogether 7 billion books. The production increased over ten percent compared to 2007. In 2009, the output value of digital publications is predicted to surpass 75 billion yuan, outweighing that of paper publications for the first time. It is expected to increase by 50 percent year-by-year, which is also higher than traditional publications."

Several Chinese writers will also promote their latest works covering various themes during the book fair. Readers can learn about the latest developments in Chinese literature as well as the reading habits and aesthetic tastes of contemporary Chinese readers.

For China Drive, I am Li Dong.