PEOPLE FIRST: Zhou Mingwei (right), President of China International Publishing Group (CIPG), presents an award to Lisa Carducci, a French expert from Canada and former CIPG editorial consultant, at the September 4 conference in Beijing marking the 60th anniversary of CIPG's founding. CIPG honored outstanding foreign employees as well as veteran Chinese employees that have worked for the group for more than 30 years (COURTESY OF CIPG)

China International Publishing Group (CIPG), the country's leading publisher for international readers, is set to extend its global reach as it celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding.

The group will continue to improve its "core competitiveness" and "international communication capacity" to become an influential international media group, said CIPG President Zhou Mingwei at a conference marking the organization's 60th birthday in Beijing on September 4.

Wang Chen, Minister of the State Council Information Office, Liu Binjie, Minister of the General Administration of Press and Publication, and Cai Mingzhao, Vice Minister of the State Council Information Office, were present at the conference. Also attending the meeting were officials from other ministries and representatives from Beijing-based publishing houses, media organizations and educational and academic institutions, along with more than 1,000 staff members and retirees of the group.

To celebrate the birthday of the oldest foreign-language publisher in China, Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Liu Yunshan, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, sent a congratulatory message to CIPG.

In the past six decades, the message said, CIPG has been committed to introducing China to the rest of the world by publishing books and periodicals and operating websites.

The group has contributed greatly to enhancing understanding and friendship between China and other countries as well as promoting exchanges and cooperation, it said.

Founded on October 1, 1949, the day the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, CIPG's mission was designed to offer foreigners a better understanding of modern China.

A month after its founding, CIPG published Mao Zedong's On the People's Democratic Dictatorship in English, French, Russian and Indonesian—the first foreign-language book published by the People's Republic. Later, it established the country's first international book-trading agency, Guoji Shudian (International Bookstore), the predecessor of the China International Book Trading Corp.

SHOWCASING CHINA: Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (fourth from left) receives a gift from China when she visited CIPG's pavilion at a book fair in New Delhi in 1982 (COURTESY OF CIPG)

LEADER'S SUPPORT: Late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai (fourth from left) chats with a foreign employee of Beijing Review, a newsweekly published by CIPG, at a reception celebrating the magazine's fifth birthday on March 5, 1963 (FILE)

CIPG's first foreign-language magazine, People's China, rolled off the printing press on January 1, 1950. In the less than 10 years that followed, the group launched a number of magazines in diverse languages, including China Pictorial, China Reconstructs (now known as China Today) and Beijing Review. It also established the Foreign Languages Press and the Foreign Languages Printing Factory. All this made CIPG the country's window to the outside world.

To meet the need for information about China in the Internet era, CIPG inaugurated the China Internet Information Center in 2000. The center runs multilingual websites such as www.china.org.cn.

A conglomerate with diversified businesses ranging from book and periodical publishing, online media to book distribution and printing, the group now publishes more than 3,000 book titles and 30 magazines in print and online in nearly 20 languages. Internet users in more than 200 countries and regions around the world visit CIPG's websites.

With 16 overseas branches, CIPG takes part in every year's international book fairs such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, the London Book Fair and BookExpo America. It has become the leading Chinese publisher to exhibit and sell publications and copyrights at these events.

CIPG has achieved a number of firsts in New China's publishing history, Zhou said at the conference on September 4. For example, it is the first organization to take part in an international book fair on behalf of the People's Republic of China. It is also the first Chinese publisher to publish and distribute books in collaboration with overseas publishers, to establish publishing companies abroad and to set up branches in foreign countries to localize its magazines that target international readers.

Since its founding, CIPG has published nearly 1.3 billion copies of books and periodicals in 43 languages, which have been distributed to more than 180 countries and regions, Zhou said.

CIPG has not wavered in pursuing its mission of presenting China to the outside world over the past 60 years, Zhou said.

"Always bearing in mind our responsibility and mission, we have witnessed every historic moment in the country's domestic development and international relations, informed the world in an objective manner of New China's progress, disseminated Chinese culture, showcased China's image and conveyed the Chinese people's goodwill for peace and cooperation," he said.

CIPG's foreign-language magazines have covered New China's development from a unique perspective using a reader-friendly style. The periodicals have won a wide range of loyal readers and helped them get a real picture of the country, Minister Wang Chen said when delivering a speech at the conference.

The group's publishing houses have translated and published a large variety of state leaders' works, literary masterpieces and Chinese classics, he said. As the best Chinese publishers for international readers, they have won acclaim in foreign countries and serve as one of the most important channels through which foreign readers learn about the governing philosophy of the CPC and the Chinese Government as well as Chinese culture.

"CIPG's development in the past six decades testifies to the pivotal role of foreign-language publishing," Wang said. "Support and understanding from the international community are as crucial to a country's development as its own efforts. Presenting Chinese culture to other countries is therefore indispensable to maintaining and promoting China's overall progress."