Introducing Chinese culture to the rest of world through the printed word is something Chinese and overseas publishers have been grappling with for a long time.
The newly launched English version of Symbols of China (SOC), a one-volume illustrated book, may have finally broken that deadlock. Co-presented by the Nanjing-based Yilin Press and London-based Compendium Publishing, it also opens up a new way of collaboration between the two sides.
The book is aimed at familiarizing outsiders with Chinese culture, says Liu Feng, editor-in-chief of Yilin Press, and the person tasked with the SOC project. "Culture defines a country's international image and this is what we are trying to promote."
As a renowned publisher of world literature in the Chinese market for many years, Yilin, according to Liu, has already tested the waters by publishing and selling collections of Chinese novelists such as Shen Congwen, and primers on Chinese culture such as the Introduction on Suzhou Gardens, for overseas readers.
However, the limited response to these prompted Yilin to abandon follow-up publications of the two series.
But four years ago, when he attended the Frankfurt Book Fair, Liu met a German reader. Fascinated by the Suzhou Gardens book, he insisted on buying the not-for-sale sample.
"Seeing his enthusiasm, it suddenly occurred to me that our frustrations were not caused by a lack of interested readers. We just didn't know them well enough," Liu says. "[I realized that] there is hope if we could find a suitable way to do the books."
Yilin's SOC project is geared to the global market.
The first six-volume Chinese version was published in 2008 and was compiled by a group of scholars led by writer and culture expert Feng Jicai.
For the English version, Yilin took over the text and other materials, and Compendium's role was to suggest "how the material could best be presented for the Western market", says Simon Forty, Liu's English counterpart.
Paul Richardson, a veteran publisher and member of the international advisory board of China Book International notes that while there are books with a similar theme on the UK and US markets, "they are either written by Westerners and may not convey the true Chinese significance of Chinese symbolism, or by Chinese experts who take for granted a knowledge of Chinese civilization and history amongst Western readers".
Xie Shanqing, who is coordinating the project with Yilin Press, says: "We wanted SOC to be close to the Westerners' reading habit, and be an easy read."
The first hurdle to overcome was the choice and organization of the content. "We had to come up with a different approach," Forty says, pointing to the rush of publications on Chinese themes triggered by the 2008 Olympic Games. To avoid becoming another thick, indigestible book that would frighten the readers, Liu says, the book concentrates on symbols seen as distinctively Chinese by foreigners.
Both Yilin and Compendium agree that narrowing down the selection of symbols to a manageable number from the six-volume series proved the most difficult and time-consuming part of their work.
"We chose carefully because we wanted to present the symbols that either the global readers must know, or the ones we must introduce, to facilitate a deeper understanding of Chinese culture," Liu says.
The book concentrates on cultural icons whose symbolic meanings provide an insight into Chinese life and thinking, and are grouped as Cultural Icons, Ceremonies and Festivals, Arts and Crafts, Legends, Famous Figures, Natural Wonders, Architectural Heritage, Performing Arts, and Daily Life.
Isabelle Vinson, editor-in-chief of MUSEUM International, UNESCO, who prefaces the book, says the inclusion of symbols of architecture and of daily life represents the pervasiveness and continuity of Chinese symbolism.
Even colors carry a deeper symbolism. For example, the color white is linked with death so the Chinese will avoid wearing anything white in the hair.
