One hundred English-language books about China and Chinese history are being published overseas by Shanghai this year as part of the city's cultural exports.

Initiated in 1999, the "Culture China" series features a set of Chinese literary, historical and cultural works translated into English to give foreigners a brief insight into China and its 5,000-year history.

More than 60 books in the series are now available in Western bookshops and at online retailers.

Five of the books are being published in collaboration with Shanghai Daily. "Culture," "The New Expatriates" and "Lifestyles" - collections of feature articles from the Shanghai Daily in recent years - were published by Better Link Press last October and are available at major bookstores in the city.

By the end of this year, another two books - one featuring Shanghai Daily's weekly column "Buzzword" and another a collection of the newspaper's feature articles on Shanghai's historic houses - will hit the bookshelves.

City officials said that they were planning to hold a series of major promotions for the books in the United States this November and December.

The books are expected to be ordered for the libraries of 300 American universities.

"Based on the book series, we have developed dozens of overseas sales points," said Sun Yong, director of the Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau.

"We are confident about gradually publishing Chinese culture in overseas markets in mainstream languages," he added.

Of the 100 books," Masterworks of Contemporary Chinese Art" has been a best seller with sales of nearly 20,000 copies since it was published in 2000.

Books on other topics - about life in Shanghai, a reader on China and other works about ancient Chinese cultural relics - also sold several thousand copies and in same cases needed extra supplies.

But most of the books will only sell a few hundred copies, the bureau said.

Cultural service industries in Shanghai, including press and publication, TV and film, Internet and other cultural entertainment sectors, generated an annual output of 108.12 billion yuan (US$14.37 billion) last year. The figure is about 15 percent higher than that of 2005.

Yet the city is still suffering a huge cultural trade deficit. The number of imported cultural products is about 1.8 times that of the exports, the city government reported.

(Shanghai Daily September 13, 2007)