The Chinese version of a Swedish novel about the sunken 18th century Swedish merchant ship "Gotheborg," a replica of which arrived at the port of Guangzhou on Tuesday, has gone on sale in China.

The book, Den langa resan (The Adventures of the Gotheborg), follows a 14-year-old Swedish boy aboard the ship on its last voyage as he experiences terrifying waves, extraordinary customs on coastal islands and conspiracies on ship.

The legendary "Gotheborg," which made three voyages from Gothenburg to Guangzhou between 1743 and 1745, smashed into rocks about 900 meters from its destination after a 30-month voyage to China and sunk with its entire cargo outside the port of Gothenburg on its last return trip to Sweden in 1745.

The wreckage of the ship was recovered in 1984 and excavation conducted from 1986 to 1992. The discovery led to the idea of rebuilding a replica of the ship using the same traditional techniques and materials and sailing it to China again.

The replica was greeted by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in Guangzhou Tuesday. The replica, 58.8 meters long and 11 meters wide, and costing 30 million U.S. dollars, represents 10 years of effort by over 4,000 ship builders.

Queen Silvia Thursday presented 50 prints of the Chinese version of The Adventures in Gotheborg, written by Sven Nordqvist and Mats Wahl and published by the Jieli Publishing House, to the Beijing Sun Village Research Institute for Helping Special Children, where over 100 children of incarcerated parents are fostered and educated.

"The book will expand children's minds, so I hope they like it," Queen Silvia told Xinhua.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2006)