From November 24 to December 2, 2025, a delegation from China Renmin University Press (CRUP) conducted a series of cultural exchange activities in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The aim of the visit was to investigate the presence of Chinese books in Southern Europe, meet with local partners, and further promote China-Europe publishing and cultural exchanges.
In Spain, the delegation held talks with Juan Carlos Izquierdo Villaverde, International Promotion Delegate, Executive Director of Wuhan Campus of Complutense University of Madrid. The two parties held in-depth exchanges and discussions on the directions towards which the two universities are working and on what have been achieved through cooperation. Subsequently, the delegation held discussions with Ediciones Complutense on topics including academic publishing and digital publishing, and carried out pragmatic consultations on future cooperation.
During their stay in Madrid, the delegation also visited the China Chair Foundation and had in-depth communication with Marta Montoro, Managing Director of the Foundation and her colleagues. The two parties explored a number of specific cooperation intentions, including jointly planning publishing projects, book promotion and publicity, organizing academic forums, and content sharing, etc. The goal is to deepen strategic cooperation and jointly help the Spanish-speaking world gain a more comprehensive and authentic understanding of contemporary China.
In Portugal, the delegation co-hosted the book release of the Portuguese edition of The Communist Party of China in the New Era with Editora Jaguatirica (Brazil). Distinguished guests attended the event, including Pedro Sampaio, Vice President of World Trade Center Lisbon, Ricardo Almeida, CEO of Clube de Autores Portugal, João Pedro Ruivo, Publisher of Shantarin Publishing Portugal, and Carolina Lopes, a member of the book’s editorial team. Guo Xiaoming, Vice General Manager of CRUP highlighted the significance of the publication of the Portuguese edition, and Professor Yang Fengcheng, the author of the book, delivered an online speech. After the ceremony, the two publishers signed licensing agreements for the Portuguese editions of Economic Growth and Industrial Structure Evolution, Historical Materialism and Contemporary China, Advancing toward the Rule of Law: From a Legal System to a Rule of Law System, and The Art of Governing China, infusing new vitality into their cooperation.
During their stay in Italy, the delegation successively visited the Confucius Institute of the University of Bologna and Luiss University. They reached multiple consensuses on promoting the internationalization of Chinese academic publishing, co-building translation and publishing platforms, enriching the content of China Pavilion, expanding library resource cooperation, and promoting teacher-student exchanges, laying a solid foundation for further deepening China-Italy publishing cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.
This visit to Southern Europe by the CRUP delegation constituted an in-depth investigation of the publishing markets in Spain, Portugal, and Italy, exploring paths for the international layout of China-themed books. By investigating Europe’s mature distribution and agency systems, book price protection mechanisms, physical bookstore culture, and digital publishing models, the delegation provided important references for CRUP to optimize operations, integrate online and offline channels, and promote reading. During their visit, CRUP reached cooperation consensuses with multiple institutions, effectively promoting Chinese publishing to the world with articulation eloquence and efficiency.
First Review: Yang Yang
Second Review: Liu Guangyu
Final Review: Guo Xiaoming