Spreading its words

Pathlight magazine introduces contemporary Chinese literature and is published in English.

"There was too much misunderstanding. All we want to do through Pathlight is to share with the global audience how ordinary Chinese people nowadays might feel and react toward the world," Shi says, "that Chinese literature is about good stories and good language."

Shi believes literary exchanges should be an intimate chat with full mutual respect, not deferential pandering by one side to the other.

"When it comes to Chinese literature's global publishing, instead of waiting for the foreign publishers to pick and select, Pathlight offers another efficient way in which we have the initiative," says Liang Xiaosheng, a writer and professor with Beijing Language and Culture University.

The English version is the first of the series of international editions. Launched in 2011, it's a quarterly redesigned from the cover to illustrations to suit global tastes.

With no existing example to follow, Shi says the team has not rushed, but was willing to go back and forth to locate a workable way, even if it meant changing one cover photo for more than 10 times until they sent someone out to Sanlitun to capture the perfect moment.

Concentrating on one theme for each issue, it features short stories, novellas and poems by contemporary writers, especially from younger generations.

"The form of a collection of short stories and poems are different than that of a novel. It gives more authors the opportunity to reach foreign readers, and at the same time, gives the readers a better overview of the current literature landscape in China," Gong Yingxin, director of the German Book Office Beijing of the Frankfurt Book Fair, tells China Daily.

To publishing consultant Wang Jing, the key operating mode is to have the cross-cultural editorial team work together, combining the strengths of translators, scholars and critics who are either native speakers of English or Chinese.