China is the guest of honour country at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2016 and its delegation includes more than 80 publishing houses and groups. More than 10,000 copies of 5,000 titles are on display at the pavillion. The visitors can have a look at the India-China cultural exchanges as well as can have a glimpse of Chinese book publishing industry and their culture at the exhibitions at the pavillion including China-India Cultural Contacts Photo Exhibition, Publishing and Printing in Ancient China Exhibition, Chinese Tea Culture Exhibition and the Original Illustrations for children. China is organizing a number of events including book release, seminars, discussions etc. at the Pavilion.
The launch ceremony of seven language (Chinese, English, Russian, French, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese) versions of The Main Battlefield of the East was held at the China Pavilion. The book is adapted from a large-scale documentary of the same name which was broadcast on CCTV in 2015. Zhang Zhihong, cultural counsellor, Embassy of China; li Yan, vice president of China Publishing Group; Wu Wei, vice general manager of China National Publishing Import and Export Corporation among others were the speakers on the occasion. A panel discussion on the topic India’s Plurality as expressed in Indian literature was organised at the theme pavillion. Narendra Kohli, noted author, Sukriti Paul Kumar, well known author were the speakers on the occasion. The discussion was moderated by Kapil Kapoor. The speakers discussed about literature, language and their role in the development of culture.
The books have been illustrated by Fiep Westendorpby. He Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador of Kingdom of Netherlands was the chief guest on the occasion. Stoelinga said that the sketches in the books are interactive and tell the stories themselves. A skit was also presented by the students of National Victor Public School about the organ donation and later the students of Jai Shankar Memorial Centre recited the poems.
Several books were also released at the Fair including In Search of Woman and Other Short Stories authored by Kiron Wadhera; Boundless Horizons by Ravindra Garimella; Neurosutra: love of Science and Neuroscience by Abhijeet Nasker (publisher GBD), Vishva Manav Ravindra Nath Tagore authored by Narendra Jadhav (publisher Prabhat Prakashan) among others.