Photo report: Agreement-signing ceremony and launch of English edition of

China’s Role in a Shared Human Future at the London Book Fair

On 10 April 2018, the China International Publishing Group, New World Press and Global Century Press jointly hosted an agreement-signing ceremony for publication of the English edition of China’s Role in a Shared Human Future by Martin Albrow. The event was chaired by Chang Xiangqun, Director of the Global China Academy and Honorary Professor of UCL. The signing ceremony was attended by Mr Xiang Xiaowei, Minister Counsellor of the Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy to the UK, Professor Lord Anthony Giddens, former Director of LSE, Professor Martin Albrow, author of the book, Mr Li Chunkai, President of New World Press, and Mrs Ingrid Cranfield, President of Global Century Press, all of whom delivered speeches. After the signing ceremony, the author conducted a discussion about the book with the experts and scholars participating in the event, garnering the attention of numerous readers and Chinese and western media at the London Book Fair.

New World Press and Global Century Press have jointly published the English edition of China’s Role in a Shared Human Future, which represents the latest example of how the two parties can share resources and complement each other’s strengths. The publication of this book will help readers from China and from the wider region to understand how China will participate in global governance, as well as its contributions to the future development of mankind. The role of China in the shared human future has always been a topic of great interest for the international community, and this event has become a focal point of the London Book Fair, thanks to its guest line-up and academic significance.

Professor Xiangqun Chang, Director of the Global China Academy briefly introduced New World Press and Global Century Press before book launch speeches, showing three books by renowned Chinese sociologist and anthropologist Fei Xiaotong (1910-2005), of the ‘China Studies’ book series English edition published by New World Press in the 1980s. She also reviewed the history of cooperation between the two presses in the past five years.

Mr Xiang Xiaowei, Minister Counsellor of the Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy to the UK, extended his warm congratulations on the occasion and thanked Professor Martin Albrow for his insights and theoretical contributions. He mentioned the recent 45^th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-British diplomatic relationships at the ambassadorial level and celebrated the “Golden Age” of relations between China and the UK, which would be characterized by cooperation in ideological dialogue and in publishing, an important component of Sino-British cultural exchanges. During his speech, Professor Lord Anthony Giddens, former Director of LSE, praised the book, saying that it represents a “successful study on the tremendous changes in human society and the key role that China may play in shaping its further development. As the United States are withdrawing from the global role they held in the past, China is now able and, most importantly, expected to play a pivotal role in shaping global society”. Mr Li Chunkai, President of New World Press, mentioned that in China’s Role in a Shared Human Future, Professor Martin Albrow embarks on a groundbreaking discussion on how China is going to act as an important force in the promotion of global peace and cooperation. Because of these theoretical contributions, this book has unique academic significance and its publication is invaluable. Mrs Ingrid Cranfield, President of Global Century Press said, in this book, ‘Professor Albrow highlights the civilizational values shared by nations around the world that can shape the global ethics on which a resurgence of global cooperation may be founded.’

China’s Role in a Shared Human Future is a collection of reflections and speeches written in the last few years by Professor Martin Albrow, FAcSS, Honorary Vice President of the British Sociological Association. Martin Albrow has served as a visiting professor in several universities in the UK, the US, Germany and China. His book The Global Age: State and Society beyond Modernity has been translated into a number of languages, including German, Japanese and Chinese. In China’s Role in a Shared Human Future, he effectively links the works of Max Weber, an important Western theorist during the age of global transition from the 19^th century to the 20^th century, with studies carried out by contemporary Chinese scholars on the period of global transition from the 20^th to the 21^st century. Albrow believes that, on the one hand, classic Western theories still provide the core ideas for rethinking global cooperation, and, on the other hand, the “Belt and Road” initiative, though only a very recent attempt to present China as a new player in the global arena, will serve as means to promote global peace and cooperation rather than strengthen great power rivalries.

China’s Role in a Shared Human Future is the fourth in the “Globalization of Chinese Social Sciences” book series published by Global Century Press. This series embodies the spirit of “accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics”, as advocated by Xi Jinping in his speech to the Symposium on Philosophy and Social Sciences in 2016. In his speech, Xi warned philosophy and social science workers in China that they “must help the world to familiarize itself with ‘the China that participates in academia’, ‘the China that participates in theoretical work’, ‘the China that participates in philosophy and social sciences’, let the world know ‘the China that is developing’, ‘the China that is Opening-up’, and ‘the China that is contributing to human civilization’”.

The cooperation between New World Press and Global Century Press not only encourages foreign social scientists to integrate the study of China into the theoretical and methodological aspects of their work, but also pushes them to reflect on how to further expand and disseminate it. This was exemplified by the two panels hosted after the signing ceremony. Panel I, “China and future global leadership”, was a debate connecting China’s case with the theory of “global leadership”. Apart from the author of book, Professor Albrow, and contemporary social theorist Lord Giddens, Dr Olaf Corry, global studies expert and Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), and Mr Duncan Bartlett, Editor of Asian Affairs magazine (UK), also participated as speakers in this Panel.

Panel II was titled “Resources and methodology – Globalization of Chinese Social Sciences”. Mr Xiao Hong, General Manager of the International Publishing Center of CNKI (China), delivered a presentation to the audience of Chinese and foreign experts and scholars on a large number of important resources on the achievements and most recent developments in Chinese social sciences. Professor Xiangqun Chang, Director of Global Century Press and  Editor in Chief of Global Century Press, pointed out that social sciences have encountered challenges in carrying out both quantitative and qualitative research in the age of big data, and that the application of computational social sciences and corpora emerging from big data has given the Chinese social sciences community a historic opportunity to develop alongside the West and to reconstruct the power of their academic discourse. New World Press promoted the strategic cooperation between CKI and the Global China Academy, aimed at effectively contributing to the process of “accelerating the construction of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics”.

New Word Press is a subsidiary of the China International Publishing Group, dedicated to the publication of multilingual non-fiction books, including social sciences works, with the goal of “helping the world understand and interpret China”. In recent years, New World Press has built an international reputation, pioneering the establishment of overseas editorial departments for several Chinese national publishing houses. Global Century Press is the first publisher focusing on bilingual publications of China, committed to examining China and the world in a global context. The cooperation between the two publishers focuses on the promotion of high-quality books by combining their resources, expanding cooperation more broadly in publishing, increasing the ranking and profile of their publications and increasing the global distribution of high-quality books.

Photos of post event network

Top: Professor Martin Albrow shows his new book; bottom: Xiangqun Chang, Anthony Giddens, LI Chunkai, XIAO Hong

Top from left: Xiangqun Chang (back view)chats with LI Chunkai, President of New World Press, JIANG Jianguo, Minister of the State Council Information Office, ZHANG Fuhai, President of China International Publishing Group, and Hu Kaimin, Deputy Chief Editor of Foreign Language Press. Bottom left: Xiangqun Chang presents the newly launched book to JIANG Jianguo; Right: LI Chunkai briefs the event to Ambassador Liu Xiaoming of the Chinese Embassy to the UK.

Top left: LI Chunkai, Xiangqun Chang, DONG Ying, editor of New World Press; Top right: Xiangqun Chang and CHEN Shi deputy editor-in-chief of the China International Publishing Group; bottom: DONG Ying, LI Chunkai, Xiangqun Chang, UK based Writer Haiyao Zheng, and Wang Shui, Vice President of Dolphin Publishing of the CIPG.

图片报道：《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》
合作出版签约仪式在伦敦书展举办

2018年4月10日，在英国伦敦书展现场，中国国际出版集团、新世界出版社与环球世纪出版社联合举办了《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》一书的合作出版签约仪式。活动由全球中国学术院院长、伦敦大学学院荣誉教授常向群主持，中国驻英大使馆文化处公使衔参赞项晓炜、伦敦经济学院前校长安东尼·吉登斯勋爵、本书作者马丁·阿尔布劳、新世界出版社社长李春凯、环球世纪出版社社长英格丽·克兰菲尔德等出席了签约仪式并致辞。签约仪式结束后，作者与到场专家学者就本书内容展开深度研讨，在伦敦书展现场吸引了众多读者和中外媒体。

新世界出版社与环球世纪出版社此次合作出版《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》英文版，是双方实现资源共享、优势互补的又一次尝试。该书的出版将为来自中国及更广泛地区的读者解读中国如何参与全球治理及其为人类未来的发展做出的贡献。中国在人类命运共同体中的角色一直以来是国际社会密切关注的话题。本书对于这一话题的研究和探讨及其嘉宾阵容和学术高度使本次活动成为书展当天的焦点。

全球中国学术院院长常向群教授在主持新书发布活动前简短地介绍了新世界出版社与环球世纪出版社，展示了新世界出版社于1980年代出版的“中国研究”系列丛书英文版中费孝通先生的三本著作，以及过去五年来两社合作的历程。

中国驻英大使馆文化处公使衔参赞项晓炜对此次活动表示热烈祝贺，并感谢马丁·阿尔布劳教授的创思和理论贡献。他认为，在中英建立大使级外交关系45周年、双方致力于打造中英关系“黄金时代”升级版之际，作为中英文化交流合作的重要部分，思想对话和出版领域的合作尤为重要。伦敦经济学院前校长安东尼·吉登斯勋爵教授在致辞中也对本书做了高度评价，认为本书“对于人类社会巨大变化以及中国在塑造其进一步发展方面可能发挥的关键作用做了卓有成效的研究。当美国从过去的全球角色中撤出时，中国不但可以，而且必须在塑造世界社会中起到举足轻重的作用。” 新世界出版社社长李春凯在现场提到，马丁·阿尔布劳教授在《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》中关于中国将成为促进全球和平与合作的重要力量的探讨具有开拓性，这些研究成果赋予本书重大的理论意义和出版意义。环球世纪出版社社长英格丽·克兰菲尔德女士指出，阿尔布劳教授在书中强调，世界各国有共同的文明价值观，它们可以塑造全球伦理，这是全球合作的复兴的基础。

《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》结集了英国社会科学院院士、英国社会学会荣誉副会长马丁·阿尔布劳教授近年来关于中国及其在未来世界中承担的角色的探讨。马丁·阿尔布劳曾为英国、美国、德国和中国等国的多所大学的客座教授，其著作《全球时代：国家与超现代社会》被翻译成德文、日文和中文等多种语言。在《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》一书中，他把十九至二十世纪全球转型时期西方重要理论家马克斯·韦伯的研究与二十至二十一世纪全球转型时期与当代中国的相关研究富有成效地联系起来。作者认为，一方面，西方经典理论仍然能为重新思考全球合作提供核心思想；另一方面，尽管中国近年来提出的“一带一路”倡议试图展示中国如何成为世界新兴力量、如何从根本上帮助世界弥合分歧，但他认为，这一举措将成为促进全球和平与合作的手段，而不会加剧大国的对抗。

《中国在人类命运共同体中的角色》是环球世纪出版社“中国社会科学全球化”系列丛书的第4集。该丛书充分体现了习近平在“哲学社会科学工作座谈会上的讲话” (2016年)中所倡导的“加快构建中国特色哲学社会科学”精神。在讲话中，他告诫中国哲学社会科学工作者“要让世界知道‘学术中的中国’、‘理论中的中国’、‘哲学社会科学中的中国’，让世界知道‘发展中的中国’、‘开放中的中国’、‘为人类文明作贡献的中国’”。

新世界出版社与环球世纪出版社合作，不仅鼓励国外社会科学家把对中国的研究在理论和方法论方面融入到一般的社会科学中，还通过何种方式对此加以深入拓展和广泛传播。如，在合作出版签约仪式后继续举办了两个论坛：一个是“中国与未来全球领导论坛”，把中国案例与全球研究中的“全球领导”理论联系起来展开了讨论，除了作者阿尔布劳和当代社会理论家吉登斯外，全球研究专家、丹麦哥本哈根大学奥拉夫·科里教授和英国《亚洲事务》杂志社总编邓肯·巴特利特先生也参加了讨论。

另一个论坛是“中国社会科学全球化的资源与方法论”。中国同方知网国际出版与发行公司副总经理肖宏先生向在场的国内外专家学者展示了庞大数量的中国社会科学研究的成果和最新发展方向的重要资源。全球中国学术院院长、环球世纪出版社总编常向群教授指出，社会科学的定量和定性研究在大数据时代遇到了挑战，大数据时代所催生的计算社会科学和语料库在社会科学中的应用使中国社会科学界获得了与西方并肩发展进而重构学术话语权的历史性机遇。新世界出版社促成中国知网与全球中国学术院的战略合作有力地推动了“加快构建中国特色哲学社会科学”的进程。

新世界出版社是中国国际出版集团所属的以多语种社科文化类图书出版为主的综合性出版社，以“让世界了解中国，让世界理解中国”为宗旨。近年来，新世界出版社充分发挥自身优势，加快海外合作步伐，在全国出版社中率先成立了多家海外中国图书编辑部。环球世纪出版社是世界上第一个致力于把中国和世界放在全球语境下相互审视的社会科学与人文科学研究的英汉双语学术出版社。两家出版社的合作，能够集中优势资源推广优质图书，拓展合作出版领域，提高出版层次和水平，扩大优质图书的全球覆盖面，让世界更好地了解中国，让中国为世界做贡献。

会后交流图片

上图：马丁·阿尔布劳向与会者展示他的新作；下图左起：常向群、安东尼·吉登斯、李春凯、肖宏

上图左起：常向群（背影）与新世界出版社社长李春凯、中央宣传部副部长/国务院新闻办公室主任蒋建国、中国国际出版集团总裁/外文局局长张福海、外文社副总编辑胡凯敏交谈；

下左：常向群把发布的的新书送给蒋建国；下右：李春凯向中国驻英使馆刘晓明大使介绍情况。

上左图左起：李春凯、常向群、新世界出版社编辑董莹；上右：常向群与中国外文局副总编辑陈实；下图左起：董莹、李春凯、常向群、旅英作家恺蒂(郑海瑶)、海豚出版社副社长王水