CUP and OUP sign China agreements at BIBF

Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press both signed co-operation agreements with China's largest trade publisher China Publishing Group (CPG) at the Beijing International Book Fair last week.

CPG president Tan Yue told The Bookseller that visits to the London Book Fair had inspired his publishing house to seek out more British titles for its home market. "We see a big potential for introducing more British books into the Chinese market," he said. "It's a priority to introduce more books with a focus on politics, culture, education and technology; another is to introduce more fantasy fiction like Harry Potter."

With the co-operation agreement with Oxford University Press, CPG intends contributing to a Chinese research and publishing centre at the university. The centre will bring together existing Chinese books and resources that the Oxford's graduate Sinologists will then work on translating into English to publish into the UK market. The fruits of their labour will be launched at the London Book Fair each year, with book topics spanning non-fiction, art and literature.

Meanwhile CUP c.e.o. Peter Philips told The Bookseller it was an "exciting time" for the publisher, saying of the co-operation agreement: "I think the heart of it is making high quality Chinese scholarship available in the west in English and about making the best of Cambridge's titles available in Chinese editions in China. We have a flow both ways."