by Xinhua writer Guo Yage
The National Library of China (NLC) added a new treasure to its trove by the end of 2019 -- an ancient book with a brownish marbled calf cover, a golden vignettes-imprinted spine and russetish edges.
Light pencil marks run gracefully on the title page. A few leaves in, a line of curly writing in old French reads: "To readers -- the book serves as the key or introduction to reading Confucius."
The book, a precious copy of the original French version of "An Introduction to The Analects of Confucius" published in 1688, is a national gift Chinese President Xi Jinping received in March 2019 from his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.