China often claims it is misunderstood, or at least is less well- understood than it would wish. China may well be right, but mutual understanding rarely improves by fiat or admonition.
While in Britain last summer, Premier Wen Jiabao suggested an alternative and perhaps more effective tack. After taking in a performance of Shakespeare, a Western literary icon with whom he demonstrated considerable familiarity, Wen expressed the hope that more people would return the favour and discover Chinese literature as a way of better understanding China and the Chinese.
He has a point. Works of fiction - as Robert Louis Stevenson wrote - 'constrain us to the acquaintance of others', that is, by reading and immersing ourselves in fiction, we acquire some insight into people different from ourselves. Novels by such contemporary Chinese novelists as Yu Hua, Guo Xiaolu, Jiang Rong, Dai Sijie and Wang Gang allow readers to glimpse China not just through Chinese eyes, but also with Chinese sensibility.
However, it's not clear that China entirely appreciates the way in which books contribute to what has come to be known as 'soft power'. Neither the Harry Potter nor the Twilight series may be entirely accurate depictions of Western society, nor do their legions of fans read the books to learn about Western cultural norms and psyches, but their success in China has, even more than has Shakespeare, generated points of common contact between the real, non-fictional societies.
Nor can China merely will anglophone readers to open a book translated from Chinese rather than one on the current best-seller list. It would, however, be relatively simple to make Chinese writers seem more familiar and less remote to potential readers overseas. It just requires some not-very-large, yet enlightened, expenditure.
The opportunity to see and hear authors in the flesh matters greatly, but there are still only relatively rare sightings of Chinese writers at literary festivals, readings, bookstores and other places around the world where authors meet readers. Having been involved with festivals for more than 10 years, including helping to arrange the participation of Chinese writers at a literary event in New York last November, I can understand why. Just making contact with Chinese authors can be difficult, and long- distance travel and translation quickly consume the budget.
Regardless of the need to stoke demand, there is also a problem of supply - the vast majority of Chinese contemporary novels remain untranslated. It is true that English- language publishing often seems inhospitable to works in translation, at least in comparison with publishing in such languages as French and Italian. Blame is sometimes laid at the feet of the anglophone reading public, who are portrayed as being unwilling to read translated fiction, such successes as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo notwithstanding. But publishing can be a hit-or-miss affair at the best of times; translation is costly and hence risky for books whose sales are far from guaranteed.