Rare account
Updated: 2015-09-23 07:49
By Yang Yang(China Daily)
|
|||||||||||
"The book provides a great amount of facts and data on contemporary China. Any researcher on Chinese politics must refer to this book," Zhu Daping, publisher of The Xi Jinping Era, tells China Daily by phone from New York.
A former civil servant, Zhu is the founder and chairman of Beijing Media Time Books, a publishing house that aims to take more Chinese books to the US.
The book's chief editor is James Hsiung, a professor of politics at New York University. He is also an expert on Sino-US relations and the Asia-Pacific region.
In 1987, Hsiung was invited by the Chinese government to meet the late economic reformer Deng Xiaoping in Beidaihe, a seaside town in North China's Hebei province. Their conversation lasted some six hours.
In a separate media interview, Hsiung said his main reasons for editing the book were to refute the "China threat" theory, to objectively introduce the president and the country's development path under his leadership, and to let the world know that the essence of the Chinese nation's rejuvenation is peace rather than aggression.
Apart from Hsiung's broad view of international relations and his academic background, Zhu chose an American scholar as the chief editor out of another consideration.
"I realized that many Chinese books, although popular at home, fail in the US because American reading habits are different from Chinese, and translation is also a big problem," Zhu says. "So, I invited Hsiung to supervise the writing style and language of the book."
Three senior journalists from Xinhua News Agency and Workers Daily, and an associate professor from Tsinghua University are the book's main contributors.
Zhu says the writers had material on the subject that is seldom available to Western scholars.
He also says most Americans have never been to China and very few Americans speak Chinese. And their knowledge of China comes from the Western media, which in recent years has mostly been biased, talking up the so-called "China threat" and the "collapse of the Chinese economy".
"We needed to make an objective introduction of our country and leaders by telling good stories, so that American readers will understand China better," Zhu adds.
Related Stories
Xi Jinping effectue une visite "très importante" aux Etats-Unis "à un moment très important" (INTERVIEW) 2015-09-21 22:11
Preview to President Xi Jinping's visit to US 2015-09-21 14:12
La prochaine rencontre entre Xi Jinping et Barack Obama revêt une importance internationale 2015-09-21 14:10
Xi Jinping effectuera une visite d'Etat aux Etats-Unis du 22 au 25 septembre 2015-09-21 09:44
Le gouverneur de l'Etat de l'Iowa espère que la visite de Xi Jinping aux Etats-Unis offrira de nouvelles opportunités commerciales 2015-09-19 14:34
Today's Top News
VW: 11 mln cars involved in scandal
UN observes International Day of Peace, calls for global truce
Tsipras returns to fight for Greek economy, debt relief
Hungary authorises govt to use army in migration crisis
Chinese think tank predicts 6.9% GDP growth for 2015
White paper highlights gender equality in China
Women's development in China contributes to global equality: white paper
UK's guarantee seen boosting China nuclear energy role
Hot Topics
Lunar probe , China growth forecasts, Emission rules get tougher, China seen through 'colored lens', International board,
Editor's Picks
Solutions elusive in Syrian refugee crisis |
Stepping up |
Rural families still hope for male heirs |
Blue skies over Beijing ... for now |
V-Day parade for 70th WWII anniversary |
Tianjin blasts: Death, damage and bravery |