CRI听力:Chinese Publishers Reap Much from New Delhi Book Fair

During a promotional event at the New Delhi World Book Fair, a discussion about China's Monkey King and the Hindu monkey deity Hanuman, attracts visitors from both India and China.

Most of the Indian readers, who are not familiar with the classic Chinese tale, find no difficulty in understanding the story.

Amitabha Sen is the chairman of India's NCBA publishing house which organized the promotional event.

"India and China have many things in common. Of these many things, one is these mythological characters. One is the Monkey King, the other is Hanuman. Like the Monkey King, Hanuman is also from an epic called Ramayana. He is very powerful and he always fights against all evils. So there're a lot of similarities between these two characters."

At this year's book fair, Sen's company signed a couple of deals with China's Zhejiang Publishing United Group, including the production of a Hindi version of the Chinese classic "Journey to the West". Having made such an illustrious start, the Indian publisher now has his eyes on further cooperation.

"Of the many steps we are taking, this is one small step forward. We are starting with this project, and maybe in the future, we will think similar projects which can enhance the cordial intellectual and culture relation between the two countries."

The annual New Delhi World Book Fair was inaugurated in 1972 and is India's oldest book fair.
This year, China was invited to attend as the 'Guest of Honour' Country.

According to the State Administration of Press Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China, Chinese book publishers signed a total of 588 copyright agreements at this year's fair. Also, dozens of Chinese books launched their Hindi and English versions.

Li Yan, vice president of China Publishing Group, said thanks to Chinese culture growing in popularity in India, the Chinese books on show, attracted many Indian readers.

He hopes the books published at the fair could lay a foundation for promoting greater cultural communication between the two countries.

"With the publishing of all these books, Indian people will come to know much more, and much better, about Chinese culture. They will have a deeper understanding of cultural exchanges between India and China, which can be traced back more than 2,000 years. "
For CRI, I'm Tu Yun.