KFNL presents 2,538 Arabic Books to Chinese Libraries

King Fahd National Library (KFNL) presented a large number of Arabic books, 2,538 to be precise, for the benefits of the public libraries in China.

The books were officially received by Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Li Chengwen at an event hosted by the KFNL Secretary-General Mohammed Al-Rashed at the library headquarters in the capital recently.

The Arabist Chinese ambassador took a tour of the state-of-the-art library which ranked recently as among top seven architectural buildings and best new innovative architectural buildings in 2015.

Ambassador Li was briefed on the library's capabilities and facilities housing large and diversified source of information both ancient discipline and modern knowledge with various units and departments of thousands of collective rare images and books.

During the visit, Al-Rashed presented books in the field of Arab and Islamic civilization as part of the mutual and cultural rapport. Experts in the field of libraries and information from the two countries met at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo recently. The meeting was held in the framework of the executive program of the China-Arab cooperation Forum, said Al-Rashed.

Al-Rashed underlined the prestigious position of the National Library of China among the top world's libraries and wished to create cultural and scientific relations between the two libraries.

In a previous interview, a Chinese professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFU), Zhang Hong, said the Arabic language is taught at more than 40 universities in China and more than 400 Chinese ambassadors and 700 consultants graduate from BFU with Arabic as a major subject.

He said 200 Chinese students have completed the Arabic course at BFU. Of them, more than 30 have been appointed ambassadors to Arab countries.