English version of the first volume of the "Developing China" series, titled "China's Economy-Rural Reform and Agricultural Development," made global debut on Thursday in Frankfurt at the 61st Frankfurt Book Fair.

The book was published jointly by Singapore-based World Scientific Publishing Company (WSPC) and Shanghai Century Publishing Group (SCPG) from China.

Originally written in Mandarin Chinese, the "Developing China" series are a collection of the most outstanding articles written by prominent native Chinese scholars of humanities and social sciences within the last 30 years.

The first volume, "China's Economy - Rural Reform and Agricultural Development," focuses on the importance of agriculture and the role of peasants in China's land reforms.

The book covers various issues ranging from property rights, food trade, township and village enterprises, mobility of labor force to land distribution, taxation and people's savings behavior.

"The books that provide valuable insights to China are mostly written in Chinese and this limits their reach due to the language barrier. WSPC is happy to bridge that gap in jointly publishing these translations so that many others can benefit from the wealth of knowledge and information," said WSPC chairman Phua Kok Khoo.

"We look forward to work closely together with Shanghai Century on other similar projects to give these valuable publications their well-deserved attention," he added.

SCPG President Chen Xin spoke highly the collaboration between his company and WEPC in publishing the English version of the series.

"The collaboration will enhance the understanding of China's development and Chinese scholars' research in social sciences globally," Chen said.

Professor Deng Zhenglai, a dean from Shanghai-based Fudan University who edited the volume, said he hopes that academic inquiries into the "Chinese success story" would open a new chapter on the "internationalization of Chinese social sciences."