Egyptian Publisher Ahmed Saeed Telling the Story of China

    "Half of my life has something to do with China. I want to express, say, write and translate a lot of things. I want to use my own voice to tell others about China and tell the true China." Egyptian publisher Ahmed Saeed said affectionately.

     The 37-year-old Saeed is the youngest director of the “One Belt One Road” cooperative research center jointly established by Ain Shams University and Renmin University of China, and is responsible for liaison and communication with China. He is also the head of a publishing company in Egypt.

     When he was in college, he chose a Chinese major and was able to speak fluent Chinese. In 2010, he went to China Ningxia University to study for a master's degree. During his studies, he came up with an idea to set up a publishing company to introduce the achievements of China's reform and opening up to Arab countries. “Before the Arab countries and China often understood each other through the Western media. I have a dream and hope that readers of the Arab world can better understand China by translating Chinese books.”

     In 2011, Sayed and two Chinese partners founded Ningxia Wisdom Palace Culture Media Co., Ltd. ("Wisdom Palace"), which is engaged in the translation and publication of Chinese books in Arabic, but the business has not been satisfactory. In order to get rid of the difficulties, Saeed thought of a way out - write a book to introduce how the Chinese in the era of reform and opening up think and choose their own development path from the perspective of Arabs.

     In November 2013, "China Road - Miracles and Secrets" was officially published. In the context of the “One Belt One Road Initiative”, the book successfully entered the list of bestsellers in Egypt. The miracle of China's economic development described in the book has attracted the attention of many officials, scholars and the public.

     Sayed said that this book has led many people to believe that the “One Belt One Road” initiative is a platform for creating development opportunities. “Until now, the book has 2,500 to 3,000 copies per year.”

     With the success of this book, the “Wisdom Palace” has weathered the storm, and the number of employees has grown from three start-ups to 135 now, and branches have been established in four Arab countries.

     At the beginning of 2019, “Wisdom Palace” participated in the annual Cairo International Book Fair and became one of the largest exhibitors in the book fair. At the exhibition, the company not only brought the monographs such as the “Belt and Road” reading, but also brought a lot of Chinese textbooks and children's books. These books have become an important bridge between the Arab world and the Chinese people.