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By Zhu Linyong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-09 11:12

Greek scholar Sotiris Chalikias has long cherished a passion for Chinese language and culture.

He has just shared with a packed audience in Tianjin his understanding of Chinese language and culture in a speech titled Greek and Chinese, the Only Languages That Have Been Spoken Continuously for Over 3,000 Years.

"For about three decades now, studying Chinese culture has become a vital part of my life," says the 61-year-old who can speak putonghua and read ancient Chinese texts with ease.

Sotiris Chalikias, the architect-turned-scholar who has devoted his life to studying Chinese culture.

"Much of ancient Chinese wisdom is similar to ancient Greek philosophies and can be illuminating to present-day readers all over the world."

Chalikias has spent decades translating Confucian classics into Greek and has published Analects of Confucius and Mencius in his home language.

He has also translated modern writer Lu Xun's Call to Arms (Na Han) and is now working on two other major Confucian classics, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean.

Chalikias is among a roster of Greek writers, artists, and publishers who brought various cultural exchange programs to the 15th Beijing International Book Fair.

Greece was chosen as the country of honor for this year's Beijing International Book Fair, the largest annual copyright trading event in Asia.

Held for the first time outside Beijing, the book fair attracted more than 1,300 publishers from 51 countries and regions, with about 5,000 copyrights deals clinched when the four-day event wrapped up on Thursday.

Chalikias' translated books were on display along with a number of books from 25 Greek publishing houses on wide-ranging topics such as Greek art, history, tourism, literature, and the ancient Olympics.

"The books from Greece are very informative and well-designed. I am especially interested in books on the origins of the Olympic Games," says Wang Li, a bookstore owner.

"I would introduce these books to my clients if they got published in China," she says.

"Greece and China are two great nations with a long history and splendid cultures. But we do not know enough about each other," says Catherine Velissaris, director of the National Book Center of Greece, in charge of national book policy and also chief director for the Greek Pavilion at the book fair.

"The door for active exchange has swung open for Greece and China," says Velissaris, adding that the National Book Center of Greece is trying to build a better and larger translating team to help bridge Greek and Chinese cultures.

China will be the country of honor at the Thessaloniki International Book Fair in 2010, says Velissaris.

The world's growing interest in China has fueled the enthusiasm of local publishers to take on the publishing of Chinese-language learning materials and primers on Chinese culture.

The most prominent ones include a six-volume Symbols of China, compiled by artist and scholar Feng Jicai and published by Yilin Press; An Illustrated Introduction to Chinese Culture, published by China Translation & Publishing Corp; Experiencing Chinese Elementary A, B, published by Higher Education Press; and Chinese Culture Series, by the Hunan Publishing House. All these books reportedly sold rights to foreign publishers at the book fair.

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