In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the mechanical printing press only a few kilometers down the road from Frankfurt. Consequentially, the Frankfurt Book Fair dates back to the 15th century and is the world’s biggest.But in 1040, long before Gutenberg and his Bible, the Chinese inventor Bi Sheng had created movable type.
This year, China was the guest of honor at the fair from October 14 to 18. A huge wood type matrix was showcased in the China Theme Pavilion in recognition of the country’s contributions to printing.A delegation of about 50 Chinese writers attended the five-day fair.
There were two legends about Germany several hundreds years ago in Mo Yan’s hometown. One was “Germans have no knees. If you push a German, he will fall down and can’t get up.” The other was “ns have forked tongue. If you want to learn German, you must cut your tongue.”Mo saw paintings done by Germans several hundreds years ago. In the paintings, the Chinese people squat on the trees, have their hair in a long queue and have a peaked mouth –like a bird.
The legends and paintings came from the imaginations of people from two vastly different countries. “If at that time, Germany had read Cao Xueqin’s (1724-1764) novel d the Chinese had read Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s works, people wouldn’t have such wild images,” Mo saiAlthough the imaginings of the Chinese and Germans centuries ago are no longer a secret, there are still misunderstandings. “Many freigners have some knowledge of some aspects of traditional culture, but contemporary culture, urban lifestyles and the standard of living are lost on them,” Juergen Boos, director of the fair, said.But Western publishers are starting to notice the Chinese market. “More publishers have picked up the rights to Chinese works: there are more books crossing international borders than ever before,” he saidIn the bibliography of African, Latin American and Asian literature available in Germany, Chinese works used to number some 80 titles or 10 pages. “After this Book Fair, you will find 400 titles in that section,” he saidIt is the same in the English-speaking world: most books translated into German are classics and contemporary literature only.
