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2008 Chinese Most Elegant Books Announced

After nearly half a year of preparing, organizing, selecting, examining and final confirming, the 2008 Chinese Most Elegant Books were announced in Shanghai on November 10. 20 kinds of books won the year’s Chinese Most Elegant Books title. These books will be Chinese candidates for the selection of 2009 World’s Most Elegant Books.

Since the beginning 16 kinds of Chinese Most Elegant Books shown on the World’s Most Elegant Books selection in Leipzig, Germany, it is the sixth year now. Since [Meilanfang’s Selection of Drama History Illustrations] won the gold award of the World’s Most Elegant Books, there are 107 kinds of Chinese Most Elegant Books chosen to be candidates of World’s Most Elegant Books. Beside [Meilanfang’s selection of drama history illustrations] won the gold award, [Zhu Yeqing’s Scribble Series] and [The Earth] won 2005 [Cao Xueqin’s Kite Art] won 2006 World’s Most Elegant Books title, [Bu Cai]won Copper Award of 2007 World’s Most Elegant Books, [After] won 2008 World’s title. [Yi Yi] firstly won Most Elegant Books - Special Production Award selected by German Committee of UN’s Education, Science and Culture Organization.

Leipzig was shocked by Chinese Most Elegant Books during the continuous 5 years. These books reflected the degree of contemperary Chinese book-design. This year’s Chinese Most Elegant Books present a trend of simplicity, fluency and lightness, which promote a return to book’s initial functions. For example, [My Readings] and [On the Phoenix Platform], published by Yilin Press, were commented as simple, smooth, full of a soft elegance, proper paper, well-bound and easy-to-open, showing uncommon effort in common aspects. [Illustrated Version of Dream of Red Chamber], published by Orient Press, presented obviousness and clear by painting the cover red; the papers felt soft and light, with lineal and expressive format and font arrangement.

Secondly, these books emphasized unification between value of culture and commerce, showing perfect combination of internationalism and nationalism. For example, [Talking About the Republic], published by Phoenix Press, was commented as historic in its contents and modern in its form; precise and lively, mixing time and space, perfectly combining its cultural value and commercial value. [Zhouzhuang, Out of Print], published by Jiangsu Education Press, was commented that it had a creative cover design, especially for the use of a stamp – present the transfer and connection between time and space; the comparison between the simple cover and the lively interleaf, the mix of bilingual texts and South-China color selection made the book most appealing.

Thirdly, these books emphasized the design’s humanistic function and serving function, which made reading easier. For example, [Mei Lanfang vs. Meng Xiaodong], published by Jiangsu Culture & Art Press, won praises for its step-style design, which presented design element as well as reading convenience.

The selection about elegance has become a bridge by which Chinese books step into the world. Every year, the Chinese Most Elegant Books which were sent to Germany were not only shown on the two world-famous book exhibitions at Leipzig and Frankfort, but also collected into Germany State Library, by which overseas readers comprehend Chinese books more deeply.