Libraries of the world: Russia and China to create national libraries in two countries

Russia and China have agreed to establish a national library in two countries. It is assumed that a large-scale project that will acquaint Russians with contemporary authors from China, and the Chinese with our domestic writers, will be implemented over a period of 4-5 years. This was told by the deputy head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications of Russia Vladimir Grigoriev. A corresponding agreement with the General Administration of Press, Publishing, Radio, Film and Television of China was achieved in the last XX Beijing International Book Fair.

“The appearance of Russian libraries in China will enable Chinese readers to get acquainted with untranslated works of classical literature, and with today’s young writers. And in Russia, respectively, the works will be released by Chinese authors. Moreover, the list includes mostly fiction”, - said V. Grigoriev. According to him, the first phase of the project will include minimum of 50 titles on each side, which will be prepared by the translators of the two countries. It is also important that each piece will be accompanied by expert commentary - Russian and Chinese. 

In addition, Russian and Chinese counterparts have agreed to support each other when the need to obtain copyright in the work, which will become a part of the national libraries.