[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Beginning literature translation made me discover a new China that I had never known before.It allows me to go deeper inside Chinese culture, and understand more about Chinese thinking and philosophy. I realized gradually, and through translating literature and personal experiences, that countries with an ancient civilization, long history and profound culture have similarities and common points between them.

The following two stories might show the cultural commonalties between China and Egypt, how the Chinese culture is received in Egypt and how Egyptians see or interact with it.

When I was a student, I used to attend a lot of cultural activities organized by the Chinese culture center in Cairo. At that time most participants were studying Chinese at different universities. Nowadays and maybe a few years ago I saw the number of people interested in Chinese culture and literature and also was impressed by it continuous rise. More people are celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival in Egypt. Last year, for example, a huge number of people of different ages celebrated it. Some friends asked to come with me to participate in various cultural events, like Chinese traditional art exhibitions and music concerts.