HANGZHOU, May 22 (Xinhuanet) - China has decided to launch a long-term program beginning this year to introduce 100 outstanding modern Chinese literary works to overseas readers, sources with the Chinese Writers Association said here Sunday.

    At the on-going third Writer's Festival in Zhejiang Province, East China, Chen Jiangong, the association's vice-chairman, said the titles will be selected through negotiations among the association, book authors and foreign publishers.

    The program will help promote Chinese books and publishing internationally and introduce more Chinese books to other parts of the world, Chen said.

    In 1980s and 1990s, the Beijing-based Chinese Literature Press had published Panda Book series, similar to Penguin Books, in English, French and German.

    Panda Books publishes modern and classic Chinese fiction and poetry from famous Chinese writers, including Wang Meng, Chen Jiangong, Jia Pingwa, Liang Xiaosheng, Shu Ting and Chi Li. The books were often given as gifts from Chinese to foreign friends.

    The new project will be market-oriented, Chen said, it is a renewed attempt to boost literary exchanges between China and overseas.

    Chinese literary works have been attracting the attention of more and more foreign publishers in recent years.

    In 2004, a total of 26 Chinese writers took part in the Salon du Livre Paris, an annual March event dedicated to book trade. These writers are virtually all of China's most famous and important authors, including Yu Hua, Mo Yan and Su Tong. The worksof 21 of them have already been translated into French. About 15,000 copies were sold during the six-day event. Enditem