Talk of the town

The Beijing International Book Fair draws more than 1,300 overseas publishers, including Penguin Random House and Wiley.[Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

"But according to my research, books about China published in Russia are either too technical to be understood or too simplified to be true."

That is why he chose to write the book that includes Chinese life and culture, he adds.

Nina Litvinets, the head of Russian Translation Institute, which backs the program, says she hopes more Chinese will be able to read Russian literature.

"The writers we brought this time all have works recently translated into Chinese. We hope the activities will help to improve the sales and let more Chinese readers know them."

Mohammed A Alshraim, director of cultural and social affairs at the Saudi embassy in Beijing, was strolling around his stand.

Outside the stand, a lot of people surrounded a woman who was busy making delicate henna (temporary tattoos usually drawn with herbal paste) on other women's palms and hands.

On the shelves on a wall facing the entrance were displayed antiques that were once used to grind coffee beans and to burn incense sticks.

"Books are only one side of our country and culture. We want to show other sides of our life," Alshraim says.