Chinese books become popular at St. Petersburg book fair

The 10th St. Petersburg International Book Fair opened here Sunday, attracting a large number of people.

According to Fu Mingxin, a representative of the China International Publishing Group, his company has participated in the book fair for three times.

Each year more and more Russians become interested in Chinese books, with the book fair offering them an opportunity to buy Chinese educational material.

He added that books about Chinese politics, culture, tourism, dictionaries and other reference materials are very popular.

One of the customers, while buying the tourist brochure, told Xinhua that he has not been to China yet, but he is amazed by how fast this country's economy reached its current state. He saw photos of Chinese cities online and was surprised. He intends to prepare a family trip to witness "the Chinese miracle" himself.

Biologist, university lecturer Lyudmila bought a book about traditional Chinese medicine. She learned about it while preparing her lectures and took interest in Chinese concepts of human body. In order to find more specialized information, she began to learn Chinese at the Confucius Institute a few months ago.

According to Fu, a lot of Russian customers appreciated the opportunity to buy Chinese books which are usually unavailable anywhere in Russia.

Publishers from 16 countries and Russian regions participate in the four-day event, which will end on May 29. Endit