ABU DHABI, 16th June, 2026 (WAM) — Cultural relations between the UAE and the People’s Republic of China are no longer merely a parallel track to economic and political cooperation; they have become an integral component of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
At the heart of this transformation, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), has emerged as a key Emirati platform for reshaping Arab-Chinese cultural dialogue.
Through translation and publishing projects, book fairs, and knowledge initiatives, the Centre has strengthened the presence of the Arabic language in China and introduced Chinese culture to Arab readers, guided by an Emirati vision founded on inter-civilisational exchange and establishing long-term cross-cultural bridges.
This approach aligns with the UAE’s cultural policy, which views culture as a form of soft power and a vehicle for enabling international understanding. In this spirit, Abu Dhabi has evolved in recent years into a major Arab hub for cultural exchange with China, leveraging its growing global standing in the publishing and knowledge industries.
This trajectory began to take shape in 2013, coinciding with the revival of the Belt and Road Initiative. Abu Dhabi engaged with the project from a cultural and knowledge angle that ran in parallel with its economic dimensions. Since then, the network of cooperation between the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre and Chinese institutional and cultural institutions has expanded to encompass translation, publishing, conferences, professional exchange, and the launch of digital platforms.
The selection of China as the Guest of Honour at the 27th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) in 2017 marked a pivotal moment in this journey. The Chinese participation was exceptional, standing as one of the China’s largest cultural representations abroad, and helped elevate the relationship from a protocol level to one of sustainable institutional partnership.
In the years that followed, ADIBF strengthened its position as a major international platform for Chinese cultural presence, welcoming more than 300 of China’s most prominent writers, including winners of prestigious literary awards, foremost among them the Mao Dun Literature Prize. The fair has also enriched the translation movement, publishing over 100 Chinese titles in Arabic.
Furthermore, over 190 Chinese publishing houses participated in the event, representing nearly a third of all publishers in China, which makes ADIBFtheir most sought-after international destination. The fair has also exhibited more than 1,000 Chinese books and organised over 120 cultural and artistic events that reflected the richness and creative diversity of Chinese culture.
In a testament to the UAE capital’s role in global inter-civilisational dialogue, the fair launched the Arabic editions of two books authored by Chinese President Xi Jinping: ‘The Governance of China’ in 2018, and ‘The Belt and Road Initiative’ in 2024.
Cooperation was not limited to the exchange of publications but extended to the formulation of an integrated knowledge infrastructure. The ALC’s Kalima Project for Translation has translated several Chinese works into Arabic, spanning economics, literature, general culture, heritage, and theatre. Notable among these are ‘Demystifying the Chinese Economy’, ‘As China Goes, So Goes the World’, and the novel ‘Soul Mountain’ by Chinese Nobel laureate Gao Xingjian, in addition to works by Shen Congwen, one of the leading pioneers of modern Chinese literature, and story collections for children and young adults.
This path was further reinforced by signing a strategic cooperation protocol between the Centre and the China International Communications Group (CICG) in 2024, expanding beyond traditional cultural exchange to build partnerships across media, publishing, research, translation, and inter-civilisational communication. This collaboration led to the launch of the ‘China Academic Books’ series in Arabic, alongside projects to publish summaries of Arabic books in Chinese and joint linguistic initiatives exploring vocabulary with shared roots between the two languages.
The cultural awards presented by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre reveal the depth of appreciation for Chinese literary achievements. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA), administered by the ALC, conferred the title of ‘Cultural Personality of the Year’ in 2011 to the scholar Zhong Jikun, in recognition of his more than half a century work teaching the Arabic language and translating Arabic literature.
In 2024, Bayt Elhekma for Cultural Industries group won the award in the Publishing & Technology category, in recognition of its efforts to build one of the most prominent platforms for Arab-Chinese cultural exchange by translating and publishing over 300 books, developing linguistic databases, and launching knowledge projects that connect China to the Arab world.
The sustained Chinese participation in the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, with 40 total nominations since its inception in 2006, further reflects the growing presence of Chinese culture in the Arab cultural landscape, and the award’s evolution into a platform for international exchange that transcends boundaries of language and geography.
In a context related to leveraging knowledge as a tool for civilisational rapprochement, the signing ceremony for the translation of ‘Shanghai: Six Thousand Years – A Path of Civilisation as Vast as the Seas’ under Kalima Project, scheduled for the Beijing International Book Fair 2026 – where the UAE is Guest of Honour, represented by a national delegation in a joint organization by the Ministry of Culture and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Beijing. – reaffirms that cultural cooperation between the two sides is no longer confined to literary translation. Rather, it is shifting towards presenting major civilisational experiences to Arab readers through a multidisciplinary approach encompassing history, economics, arts, and technology.
Since 2013, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre has maintained a consistent presence at the Beijing International Book Fair — a participation that has quickly evolved into an advanced platform for cultural diplomacy where cooperation agreements are signed, conferences on Arab-Chinese publishing are organised, and digital initiatives are launched. These efforts have also significantly strengthened Chinese publishers’ presence at ADIBF.
The ALC pavilion’s recognition as Best Pavilion at the Beijing International Book Fair in 2018 stands as a clear indicator of the UAE’s growing prominence in the Asian cultural sphere.
To that end, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre continues to play a role that goes beyond promoting the Arabic language, building an extensive network of cultural influence between the Arab world and China, thereby cementing the UAE’s position as a crossroads of civilisations.
Source: Emirates News Agency