Visitors at China Publishing Group's booth during the London Book Fair, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday in London.[Photo by Li Wensha/provided to China Daily]

Xiang Xiaowei, minister counselor for culture at the Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom, says publishing-industry synergy is a highlight of Sino-UK collaboration.

Globally, China has been featured at 17 major international book fairs. The Beijing International Book Fair is also becoming a key international book fair.

Speaking about the future, Zhu Weifeng, a director at the State Administration of Press, Publishing, Radio, Film and Television, says: "In the past, Chinese and overseas publishing-industry collaboration was focused on traditional methods, such as rights trading ... but now collaboration in the digital-publishing space is also growing."

Meanwhile, many international publishers are engaging in China-related activities.

One example is London-based ACA Publishing, which has bought the rights to several Chinese books for translation into English. They cover a range of subjects, including biographies, economics, culture and politics.

ACA bought the rights to 20 Chinese books so far this year.

Wang Ying, its publisher, says: "I see engaging with China-themed books as a sunrise opportunity within the publishing industry."