Database of contemporary Chinese literature launches in Beijing

By Li Huiru
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, January 18, 2018
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The International Database for Contemporary Chinese Writers and Their Works was launched at the First Cultural Confidence and Literature Communication Forum in Beijing on Jan. 17, 2018. [Photo by Li Huiru / China.org.cn]


In order to present the world a clearer sense of contemporary Chinese literature, a new database was launched at the First Cultural Confidence and Literature Communication Forum in Beijing on Jan. 17.


The International Database for Contemporary Chinese Writers and Their Works is a collection of introductory and representative works and videos of 100 contemporary Chinese writers in 10 languages. The database is a joint effort by Chinese Culture Translation and Studies Support (CCTSS), an online platform dedicated to promoting Chinese literature and culture overseas, and Novel Periodicals under the China Writers Association , to recommend a group of contemporary Chinese writers to international audiences.


More than 20 writers, scholars and critics attended the forum. Among the notable writers present were novelists Wang Yuewen, Shao Li, Liu Xinglong, Zhao Benfu, Xu Zechen, Zhou Lili and Jiang Ni. Critics and scholars at the event included Yan Jingming, Chen Xiaoming, Liang Hongying, Zhang Qinghua, Li Ling, Guo Baoliang, Liu Weidong and Yu Xiaozhi. 


Huang Zhuoyue, director of the Chinese Culture Communication and Translation Center, addressed the forum and noted that as China progresses in areas such as technology and itseconomy, contemporary Chinese literature in comparison is largely invisible to the rest of the world.


"China should step up cultural communication globally in order to become a true great power. The economy brings benefits, while culture is about communication between minds, which is indispensable."


Yu Yunquan, deputy director of the Center for International Communication Studies , expressed a similar viewpoint in his speech to the forum. As a researcher dedicated to international communication and cultural "soft power," Yu said that he found the identity of contemporary Chinese writers as a group to be obscure and that there had up been up to this point no clear atlas of contemporary Chinese works. 


Yan Jingming, vice-president of the Communist Party-led China Writers Association, gave high praise to the launch of the database. He said the cooperation between Novel Periodicals and CCTSS could further promote the works of contemporary Chinese writers.


"Novel Periodicals is a gathering place for the best contemporary Chinese works, while CCTSS, under the guidance of Ministry of Culture, is professional in translation," he said, adding that "win-win" cooperation is necessary in further lifting the influence of contemporary Chinese writers.


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