As the Guest of Honor, China showcases its literature, culture and traditions at the world's largest book fair

Set for its shining debut, China introduced itself for the first time as the Guest of Honor to the world's largest and oldest book showing--the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair, held from October 14 to 18. Headlined Tradition and Innovation, a wide range of programs were held to present Chinese culture and literature.

The country brought more than 2,000 Chinese publishers, artists, writers and poets, 200 publishing houses and 10,000 books to the five-day showcase of global publishing trends and best sellers that opened to industry delegates.

Since 1988, the city of Frankfurt selects a country or a region as the Guest of Honor for the book fair, making the guest the focus of attention in the publishing industry in Germany and throughout the rest of the world.

Since the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair in March, as this year's Guest of Honor, China has held more than 600 activities for cultural dialogue and cooperation, of which half were during the five-day cultural feast in Frankfurt. The events continued until the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Aimed at boosting dialogue between Chinese scholars and their foreign counterparts, numerous events featuring Chinese themes were held paralleling the book fair. Roughly half were sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. The remainder were sponsored by the fair organizers.

The events included a special evening inauguration performance on October 13 by Chinese and German musicians, alongside various conferences, performances and exhibitions.

I  love Chinese culture

But it is really difficult to learn well

I have read a lot about China, but never be there