Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand will personally translate Border City

Thai Ambassador to China Atayu Xi Sam (left) translated and published the Thai version of Border City and forwarded a special letter from Princess Sirindhorn to Shen Longzhu (right). Photo by Zhang Hongyu, a reporter of this newspaper

On October 29, the authorization agreement between China and Thailand on Mr. Shen Longzhu's authorization to authorize the Thai publishing house to translate and publish and distribute Mr. Shen Congwen's book "Border City" in Thailand was signed in Beijing.

This is following the fact that on September 30, Thai Ambassador to China Atayu Xi Samu was entrusted by princess Maha Zakri Sirindhorn of Thailand to visit the China Copyright Protection Center on the export of the copyright of "Border City" to Thailand, conveyed to Shen Longzhu, the copyright holder of "Border City", the princess's willingness to translate and publish the Thai version, and forwarded to Shen Longzhu the follow-up to the princess's special letter.

Atayo Xi Samu said that copyright had a great role in promoting cultural exchanges among countries. Princess Sirindhorn has a special love for China, visits China at least twice a year, has many Chinese friends, and has a deep study of Chinese literature. After each visit to China, the Thai media will give it a report, and the Thai people will understand China and love China. "Border City" is very popular with readers in China, and the princess hopes to translate "Border City" and publish it in Thailand, believing that this book will also be liked by the Thai people.

Shen Longzhu thanked Princess Sirindhorn for translating Border City. He said that compared with many English and French versions of "Border City", the Thai version of "Border City" is groundbreaking, and he hopes that "Border City" will contribute to promoting Sino-Thai cultural exchanges.

"Border City" is one of Mr. Shen Congwen's masterpieces, first published in 1934, has a unique position in the history of modern Chinese literature, and once ranked second in the top 100 Chinese novels in the 20th century. Princess Maha Zakri Sirindhorn of Thailand is an outstanding ambassador of Sino-Thai friendship who has translated the literary works of many well-known Chinese writers into Thai and was awarded the "Friendship Medal" by President Xi Jinping in 2019.

Sun Baolin, Director of the China Copyright Protection Center, thanked Princess Maha Zakri Sirindhorn and Mr. Shen Longju of Thailand for their trust in the Copyright Protection Center and the China Copyright Agency Co., Ltd., which belongs to it. He said that in addition to the export of copyright in the Thai version of "Border City", the Copyright Protection Center will continue to strengthen the pragmatic exchanges and cooperation between cultural products such as excellent films and other books and thailand, and promote closer and deeper cultural exchanges between the "Belt and Road" countries.