Susan Pointer, vice president of International Public Policy & Government Affairs at Amazon speaks at the Chinese Culture Going Global symposium held Tuesday in Beijing. Photo: Courtesy of CCTSS

The Chinese Culture Going Global symposium was held Tuesday in Beijing, attracting more than 40 domestic and international publishing houses to the capital to discuss the expansion of Chinese books overseas.

The symposium was co-hosted by Chinese Culture Translation & Studies Support (CCTSS), a nonprofit organization operated by the Chinese Culture Translation & Studies Support Research Center and Amazon. 

Amazon has been working with Chinese partners since 2011 on the ChinaBooks project, for which it has established a dedicated country domain on its global website. So far, China is the only country to have a domain on Amazon, explained Susan Pointer, vice president of International Public Policy & Government Affairs at Amazon, at the symposium. 

"China now is No.5 in the US translated books category, a substantive growth compared with 10 or 20 years earlier, when China was not in the top 10 list. This is due to a growing demand for Chinese books in overseas markets, also to the Culture Go Abroad program of the Chinese government, as well as due to the cooperation between China and multinationals such as Amazon. This exciting growth potential continues," said Pointer.    

Following keynote speeches, experts and industry insiders reviewed the development and achievements of Chinese books in overseas markets during panel discussions focusing on how to better promote Chinese works' abroad. 

Da Deng Long by Wang Yage will soon become the first Chinese children's book to debut on Amazon Crossing Kids, a new imprint for translated picture books launched in 2019, noted Meng Chen, China's director of Amazon Publishing, during a panel discussion. 

"We hope to bring this book to more readers in the US in 2020, as well as introduce more Chinese children's books to the world," said Meng.