This is the first time that a Chinese writer has participated in the annual meeting of the International PEN Club, and Lin Zixuan, as the only member of the International PEN Club in China, needs to introduce the group of Chinese writers to the world literary scene at the conference.

The annual PEN conference was held in London in mid-May, and he was due to leave Shanghai by the end of March at the latest.

At that time, there will be famous writers from Europe and the United States and other countries to attend.

Aware that this was a great opportunity to introduce Chinese culture to the Western community, he planned to hold a book fair on Chinese culture during the International PEN Congress.

With the joint efforts of all colleagues in the compilation office of Vientiane Book Company, a large number of Chinese classical classics have been translated into English.

A number of new literary series are also included.

The reason why there is such a great effect has a lot to do with the plan proposed by Lin Zixuan.

He asked the translators of the compilation institute to translate the short works first.

For example, "Strange Tales from Liaozhai", "Caigen Tan" and "The Art of War" and so on.

For example, a long masterpiece like "Dream of the Red Chamber" can be translated later, and a copy of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is enough to translate for several years, and foreigners may not be able to understand it, which is too uneconomical.

Lin Zixuan, who came from later generations, paid attention to efficiency.

It is short in length, high in value, and can represent traditional Chinese culture and interest foreigners, which is the first choice for translation.

"Strange Tales" is a fantasy novel in the West.

"Caigen Tan" talks about the survival philosophy of the Oriental people, the way of dealing with the world, and if you read this book, you can understand the Oriental people.

Needless to say, "The Art of War" is the world's earliest military work and has extremely high practical value.

In addition to these. Lin Zixuan also proposed the concept of simplified version, that is, to abbreviate and abbreviate long stories.

For example, "Romance of the Gods". A very thick book, you can write a synopsis of the story. Or break it down into several short stories.

The purpose of translating traditional Chinese literature into English is to introduce Chinese culture and let foreigners know that there is a story, and the abbreviated version can also achieve the effect.

Lin Zixuan himself edited an introductory book called "Fifty Books to Understand China".

He selected 50 representative books from many traditional Chinese classics and introduced them, and foreigners who want to understand Chinese culture can start with these books.

In this way, he did not go to London alone, but took the staff of Vientiane Bookstore to sell books abroad.

Lin Zixuan's plan could not be hidden from other bookstores in Shanghai. In particular, the Commercial Press and Chung Hwa Book Company are of greatest concern.

Selling books abroad? Is this an idea?

As one of the largest publishing houses in China, it is natural for them to want to make a name for themselves internationally, and they have never thought about this before, and they always feel that Western readers have little interest in Chinese culture.

If you rashly go to the West to promote Chinese books, I am afraid that people will take them as a joke.

This time, Lin Zixuan was going to the UK to hold a book fair, and they thought about whether to take a ride with the wind, if the Chinese book fair was popular in Europe, it would naturally be the best, even if it failed. It was also Lin Zixuan's decision-making mistake.

As the first person to eat crabs, there are always risks to face.

The Commercial Press appointed Wang Yunwu to discuss this matter with Lin Zixuan, Wang Yunwu is the director of the Compilation Institute of the Commercial Press, and he also has an identity as Hu Shi's teacher.

In fact. He is only three years older than Hu Shi, and he can be regarded as a teacher and friend.

In 1920, the Commercial Press wanted to invite Hu Shi to be the director of the compilation office.

Hu Shi was reluctant to resign from his professorship at Peking University. politely declined, and recommended Wang Yunwu to work at the Commercial Press.

Wang Yunwu is a man of great knowledge and talent. Especially proficient in English, he has his own set of methods in management.

He also invented the four-corner number checker method and compiled books such as "Wang Yunwu's Great Dictionary". Have a certain reputation in the academic world.

As a competitor, Lin Zixuan knows the senior management of the Commercial Press in detail, Wang Yunwu belongs to the old-school figure, or the conservative, and has a great contradiction with Shen Yanbing and others of the Literary Research Association.

But it is undeniable that this person is very talented, and this is an objective evaluation as an opponent.

Wang Yunwu and Lin Zixuan did not talk about human relations, but talked about the topic of promoting national culture, which can be regarded as their favorite.

People in the Chinese cultural circles know that Lin Zixuan, unlike those writers of new literature with progressive tendencies, does not approve of the total denial of traditional culture, but advocates the inheritance of criticism.

Wang Yunwu believes that holding a book fair in the UK is a major event, which has a bearing on the image of China's publishing industry abroad.

It's just that Vientiane Bookstore is too thin and should be run by the entire publishing industry in Shanghai to achieve results.

I have to say that what Wang Yunwu said makes sense, anyway, it is all about promoting Chinese culture, and Lin Zixuan can't stop other publishing houses.

If Shanghai's major bookstores appear as a whole, then they can form a powerful force, and perhaps trigger a wave of Chinese culture in Western society.

Of course, this is the most desirable outcome.

At home, they are competitors, and in foreign countries, they are all China's publishing industry, and cooperation can achieve a win-win situation.

With this consensus, the negotiations went very smoothly.

Wang Yunwu returned to the Commercial Press, and talked to the senior management of the Commercial Press about this matter with emotion, he thought that Lin Zixuan would make things difficult in many ways, and even refuse directly, but he didn't expect it to be talked about like this.

"That's what everybody does." He said.

Recently, there is an interesting story circulating in Shanghai, many people call Lin Zixuan "Lin Mengwei", which is probably the joking name of Lin Zixuan by the literati who came to Shanghai from the north, but the local literati in Shanghai have no feeling.

Some people also say that Lin Zixuan has the demeanor of everyone or the demeanor of celebrities.

Wang Yunwu said that this sentence refers to Lin Zixuan's open-mindedness, Lin Zixuan has always done things right, not people.

With Lin Zixuan's promise, Shanghai's slightly larger publishing houses have the intention of participating.

Even if you can't compare it with the Commercial Press, if you can go abroad with the books of your own publisher, you may be able to meet Westerners who know the goods, and from then on you will become famous internationally.

Others are trying to work with major European publishers.

As a result, Shanghai's publishing industry has been busy, and they have asked to form a team to kill the European market.

Lin Zixuan thinks that this is a good thing, and going abroad to see it, and by visiting and visiting publishing houses in European countries, can improve the overall standard of China's publishing industry.

Anyway, it's not his way out, these people can follow if they want.

It's just that things turned out unexpectedly.

With so many people in Shanghai's publishing industry applying to travel to the UK, the British embassy in Shanghai naturally knew about it.

After the May Thirtieth Massacre, relations between the British and the Chinese were stale, and they heard about it as a good opportunity to ease their relations.

This is a cultural exchange between the two countries.

This year's China Book Fair in London and the UK in Shanghai next year will promote mutual understanding and will be a major event for the cultural circles of the two countries.

Lin Zixuan originally just participated in a pen meeting to promote Chinese culture by the way, but now it has escalated to a cultural exchange between countries.

I can only say that it's not that I don't understand, but that the world is changing too fast. (To be continued.) )