Exactly a hundred years ago this year (and approximately 99 years before some large American publishers descended on the Beijing International Book Fair 2006 to teach Chinese publishers how to do business) Macmillan appointed F.G.Whittick as travelling representative in China. A year on the headcount was doubled by the appointment of M.E.Taur as his assistant on $40 per month (not bad for those days) but this didn't work out and Taur was 'demoted' to being a 'mere' translator. Selling Macmillan's very British and rather imperial titles in China proved tough and so a local publishing programme was established including 'Arithmetic for Chinese Schools' and in 1912 a Chinese school atlas.

In 1979 the programme was revived after a visit by Harold Macmillan, then aged 85 but still determined to do a publishing deal and to muse on the 'unheard of possibilities we must be ready for.'

This century of hard (and often unprofitable) work is beginning to pay dividends now with the establishment of New Standard English as market leader in the Chinese English Language Teaching market; Nature China as the premier shop window for Chinese science; Nature Asia which makes English-language scientific information available Chinese, both simplified and traditional, as well as Japanese and Korean; Macmillan Production Asia which sources print and associated products for Macmillan and many other publishers; and much else.

The latest venture in this centenary year I mentioned earlier in the week and I can now link to a page all about Picador Asia which we launched at the excellent Asia House with the help of our Chinese literary adviser and make-things-happen guru, Toby Eady. It is a great initiative with great books, great authors and a continuation and enrichment of a great tradition of learning from China rather than lecturing to China.

Here are the first two authors in the list, Diane Wei Liang and Fan Wu.

Yesterday I wrote in praise of Wilbur and in the hope that his clutch of number one best selling positions (in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) might be added to in the UK. I can now confirm that The Quest is indeed the best selling novel in the UK this week, way ahead of number two.

And finally and with no particular logic I thought I'd show you this link which popped up as a Google ad here recently. It is quite extraordinary but perhaps I'm simply being old-fashioned.