Survey reveals two sides to China story

According to the Horizon report, the nationalities of the authors also demonstrate that there is an imbalance in the way Chinese culture is represented. Among the selected books, those written or edited by non-Chinese authors account for the vast majority-74.1 percent-of titles. The authors come from 11 countries including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and France.

By comparison, only 41 of the authors are of Chinese nationality or descent, accounting for a much smaller proportion of 25.9 percent. Meanwhile, the number of contemporary Chinese authors is just around 20, with most works centering around traditional medicine and Chinese food. This highlights the predicament faced by contemporary Chinese culture and how it is represented abroad, as it is predominantly constructed by nonnative writers.

To redress this imbalance, as the survey suggests, the dissemination of Chinese culture requires cooperation with overseas publishers, which often have their own criteria and preferences for selecting books on Chinese subjects. Taking US-based publishers as an example, Blue Snake Books specializes in publishing works about Chinese martial arts, while Eastland Press focuses on Chinese medicine.

As foreign publishers become more familiar with the interests of local readers, and Chinese editors can oversee the selection of Chinese cultural content, their collaboration may be better placed to tell an authentic Chinese story while taking market forces into consideration, the report concludes.

Xing Yi contributed to this story.