The slew of Sinologists who flew to China last month to attend book fairs and workshops all have a unique story to tell about the motivations behind their metiers, Mei Jia reports.

A "China Shelf" of Chinese titles appeared in a bookstore on Sep 12 in Minsk, Belarus, the fourth specialist section to spring up after the Cuban, Thai and South African ones.

The shelf brought 200 copies of 80 titles to Belarusian book lovers, covering titles about contemporary China, traditional culture and Chinese literature. Another similar project, "That's China Bookshelf", organized by China Intercontinental Press, has brought Chinese titles to 15 bookstores or organizations in 13 countries since 2016.

Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, is one of the featured books, together with that by children's writer Cao Wenxuan as well as classical tales from Pu Songling (1640-1715).