Egyptian young Sinologist Mai Ashour. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Do sinologists have a big influence on the publishing house in deciding what Chinese literary works to be introduced to Egypt? What's the current situation of Chinese literature introduction in Egypt?

Yes because sinologists are the bridge between the two cultures and languages, so most of the time they do choose the works that will be translated.

I don't have an accurate numbers, but what I can tell you that there are more works being translated into Arabic.

If you were to recommend the Chinese some Egyptian literature, what would they be? Do you have any plan of translating Egyptian literature to Chinese?

I would recommend strongly the literary works of the Egyptian female author and writer Radwa Ashour.

At the moment I am concentrating on translating Chinese literature into Arabic, but in the future I will take this step and start translating Egyptian literature to Chinese.

China and Egypt are two countries with time-honored histories. Do you find the two countries have similarities culturally? If so, are these commonalities also reflected in literature?

Yes sure, there are a lot of similarities between Egypt and China, and the more I translate literature the more I discover the commonalities, especially in family relations and how it is important, and also how Chinese people are warmhearted. I can touch this obviously when I translate texts full of different feelings, no matter if it is about love friendship or other things.

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