Cui Tiankai, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, delivers a speech during the opening ceremony.[Photo/Xinhua]

"The exchange of books has been an important contributing element" to the development of U.S.-China relations as well as the "extraordinary interaction" between the two countries, said the 92- year-old veteran diplomat, calling China's guest of honor status " an important symbol" of the deepening of mutual understanding and scope of common purposes.

Occupying an area of up to some 2,300 square meters, the China Pavilion hosts a broad array of Chinese publications about politics, economy, history, art and culture, and even ethnic minority heritage. Novels by Nobel Laureate Mo Yan and science fiction master Liu Cixin are also on the shelves. But only some 2, 000 of them are available in English, delegation sources told Xinhua.