At the 22nd Shanghai Book Fair, marking the 12th anniversary of the "Wangdao Thinkers Reading Series," the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Social Sciences, in collaboration with the Changning District Committee's Publicity Department, the Oriental Publishing Center, and the Shanghai People's Publishing House, launched a co-branded initiative called "Wangdao Thinkers Reading Series × Oriental Book Club × Li Xiang Changning." During the book fair, the project featured "one lecture per day, seven lectures in seven days," inviting renowned authors of social science works and academic experts from Shanghai to engage in scholarly dialogues, track academic frontiers, and focus on deep reading, bringing new social science knowledge to the public and enriching the city.

On August 14th, a special book fair event, "Economic and Trade Records of Nations," was held at the China Publishing House's Bookstore. Wang Weisong, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Executive Vice Chair of the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Social Sciences; Chen Yiwang, Party Secretary and Director of the Oriental Publishing Center; and Pan Guoli, Standing Committee Member of the Changning District Committee and Head of the Publicity Department, attended the event and jointly launched the co-branded project. Many readers registered to participate.

In the keynote speech, Professor Zhang Yiguo, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and the series editor, opened with the theme "Facing the World with a Cool Eye," explaining the book series' purpose and historical context. He noted that amid the unprecedented changes of the century, China urgently needs "area studies," a grand discipline, to understand the external world. The series adopts the "annals style," differing from papers, monographs, and reports, representing a uniquely indigenous product in China's knowledge production of area studies, carrying the tradition of "governing the world, enriching the people, and meeting national needs and timely demands."

Zhang Yiguo introduced that Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, leveraging economics as its disciplinary foundation, has laid a solid groundwork for compiling the "Economic and Trade Records of Nations." The series follows the four principles of "simplicity, precision, core, and elegance," with each volume maintaining a unified format. They sequentially narrate the target country's basic conditions, economic development history, foreign trade and investment overview, and economic and trade relations with China, emphasizing the latest trends in each country's economy and trade, new changes in industrial structure, and new directions in foreign cooperation. Finally, Zhang Yiguo expressed hope that the compilation of "Economic and Trade Records of Nations" would help Chinese people gain a deeper understanding of specific countries or regions, enhancing their knowledge, sharpening their insight, and expanding their learning; provide information references for government departments to formulate precise foreign trade policies; and offer intellectual support for enterprises exploring overseas markets, assessing investment environments, and managing trade risks, aiming to become the first go-to reference book for Chinese companies going global, always carried in their luggage or briefcases.

Wang Chong, the series editor, hosted a discussion session where three volume authors shared their writing practices and research methods in area studies. Wang Jinqiang, Vice President of the Institute of Area Studies at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and professor, author of the "Ethiopia" volume, stated that one core value of area studies is transcending a single-dimensional national imagination. Despite years of academic research on Africa, traditional perceptions often simplify Africa to images like "black people, economic backwardness, and colonization." He cited examples, such as many Egyptians not primarily identifying as Africans but rather emphasizing their Arab or Mediterranean cultural identity; similarly, Ethiopia and Liberia do not acknowledge being colonized in their historical narratives. Africa has over 2,000 languages and hundreds of ethnic groups, making it difficult to simply generalize Africa as a whole. Therefore, the series selected countries like Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco to present a more realistic picture of Africa. He also corrected stereotypes about African foreign policy: most African countries see China as a more reliable and equal partner, based on rational choices for actual development benefits rather than ideological alignment, reflecting the growing strategic autonomy of African nations.

Zhang Weilei, Vice President of the Graduate School at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and professor, author of the "Australia" volume, shared insights from her writing process from "Theories and Methods of Area Studies" to the "Australia" volume. She proposed that area studies cannot simply copy Western theories; it must start from Chinese practice, refine Chinese theories, and then feed back into practice. When writing the Australia volume, the team used a framework of "national context background - economic operation - foreign trade - bilateral cooperation," integrating multi-disciplinary methods from economics, political science, and cultural anthropology to achieve a closed loop from fragmented knowledge to systematic analysis. She revealed that the team has started building a supporting database for "Economic and Trade Records of Nations," which will enable real-time dynamic updates to meet the practical needs of enterprises going global.

Wang Yanyan, Dean of the School of International Chinese Education at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and professor, editor of the "Slovenia" volume, used Slovenia as an example to explain the methodology of data systematization and theoretical deepening. She emphasized that structural expression needs to balance both temporal and spatial lines, vertically examining the rise and fall of industrialization and horizontally reviewing diplomacy and investment. She specifically noted that the Port of Koper in Slovenia is a strategic gateway for China to enter Central Europe, with bilateral trade volume jumping from $6.7 billion in 2023 to $10.3 billion in 2025, highlighting Slovenia's important bridging role in Central and Eastern European cooperation. She also stressed the irreplaceable role of language and cultural literacy in area studies, noting that AI translation struggles to bridge the cultural gap between "signifier" and "signified."

Audience members actively asked questions, creating a lively atmosphere. The "Wangdao Thinkers Reading Series," founded by the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Social Sciences in 2014, aims to "read for ten years, inspire academia, immerse in depth, and savor essence," advocating for a combination of lectures and reading, interactive exchanges, and cross-cultural dialogue between China and the West, as well as ancient and modern times. It is dedicated to creating a platform for citizens to engage in "balanced breadth and depth" ideological exchanges. In recent years, the series has used excellent social science publications as a bridge, focusing on topics like Chinese-style modernization, modern civilization of the Chinese nation, and the role of AI in social sciences. It aligns with the Shanghai Book Fair and other events to spotlight academic hot topics, track ideological frontiers, and promote deep reading, fully leveraging the Federation's advantage of connecting with local social science experts to gather wisdom and academic achievements, serving the development of Shanghai city.