Reading Power
Text by Chu Jiwang
The 24th New Delhi World Book Fair, one of the largest in Asia, kicked off in January 2016, attracting heaps of publishers and dealers from countries, such as China, France, Germany, the United States, and Canada. On display were books from soup to nuts, covering a wide range of subjects, including literature, history, science and technology, medical science, novels, reportage, proses, and children’s literature, at all times and in all over the world.
As a major guest state of the Fair, China brought along a bunch of publications, including my poetry collection, The Scent of Sea Spray. Published by Foreign Languages Press (FLP) under China International Publishing Group (CIPG), it collects more than 100 poems that I’ve written over the years. I was honored to have celebrities, including Sun Ge, counsellor of the Chinese embassy in India, Lu Cairong, vice president of the CIPG, Xu Bu, presi-dent and editor-in-chief of the FLP, Venu Rajamony, press secretary to the President of India, and Ramjee Prasad, director of the Philosophy Department of Delhi University, attend the launch ceremony.
As an entrepreneur, I have participated in over 100 large-scale trade fairs at home and abroad; but this was my first experience at a world book fair. For centuries, books have served as a ladder for the progress of the mankind, a source of knowledge, an inspiration for wisdom, an outlet for tackling poverty, and a carrier of cultural legacies.
To me, the objective of the World Book Fair in India is to spread traditional Indian culture and regain the long-lost Sanskrit culture.
Looking back to history, over half of India’s territory was captured by the Turks, who first spread Islam across northern India and penetrated the south by force of arms. Today, Islamic culture still prevails in the country, which can be proven by many ancient buildings featuring Islamic style in Delhi, such as the 72-meter-tall Qutabminar erected during the 12th Century by Indian slaves, which enshrines the carvings of the Quran.
Britain invaded India in the 17th Century and made it a colony by the mid19th Century. This explains why English is popular throughout the country. Today, India Gate, a New Delhi landmark designed by England’s Edwin Lutyens, has become iconic of India. Unfortunately, the long history as a British colony has washed away people’s memories of their local Sanskrit culture.
The Book Fair aimed to showcase India’s cultural diversity policy while igniting more excitement for reading in young people, raising awareness of the importance of culture and knowledge, and carrying forward Sanskrit culture, a legacy that has been handed down across generations.