A reception was held in Beijing Thursday to launch a book series titled "Light on China," in which foreigners reviewed the great social changes in China over the past more than 100 years from different points of view.  

Jointly published by the Foreign Languages Press and the China Society for People's Friendship Studies, the series includes 50-odd books, written in English by international friends of China, foreign observers and journalists in the forms of historical works, biographies, diaries and collections of news reports.

These works reflect various aspects of Chinese society, ranging from political, economic, military, and cultural affairs to the everyday life and thinking of ordinary Chinese people.

The series not only reprints the leading works of famous international friends of China, such as Agnes Smedley and Helen Snow, but also includes some old, even out-of-print works, such as Ti-Ping-Tien-Kwoh by Augustus Lindley, which records the rise and fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the 19th century.

Cheng Siwei, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, attended the launching ceremony.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2003)