The pinnacle of Zhang Mingzhou's career came recently when he was elected president of the International Board on Books for Young People－the first Chinese person to do so in its 65-year history.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He quit his publishing job earlier this year and decided to give a shot.

"Believing in the same ideals, I wanted to help the IBBY to take it to develop further," he says.

He has already helped forge an agreement between the IBBY and the International Publishers Association and helped set up the national section of Sri Lanka.

"I hope more countries will join the IBBY," he says. "There are so many touching stories from the reading promoters, I want them to be known by more people."

One of the major plans for his term is to raise the organization's public profile around the world.

Zhang says he will encourage more young people to work tin the organization and continue to develop projects like Children in Crisis and Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities.

His first job as president was to launch the IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award.

The China-based iRead Foundation will award two reading promoters from impoverished areas around the world with a prize of 200,000 yuan ($29,000).

Vassiliki Nika, president of IBBY Greece, says: "Today, the IBBY's mission - which is more urgent than ever before - is becoming a vehicle for studying the way stories and fairy tales mix, mingle and interact through different peoples' visions. Understanding and goodwill among people, as well as equal opportunities for every child in the world can only be attained when books offer a bridge between different peoples and civilizations."

Zhang supports this aim and believes that China has never been more close to the center of the global stage in terms of children's publishing thanks to the reform and opening-up process that has helped so much to boost its international standing in the publishing sector.

"I hope my presidency will help further enhance China's dialogue and cooperation with its world partners," Zhang says, adding that the organization is not just about China.

"I support the creation and production of high-quality books for children worldwide. I want children everywhere to be given access to books on equal merit. Through our work, I hope to see children grow up with healthy personalities and the ability for independent thought, and a sense of inclusiveness toward other cultures," he says.

"Above all, I hope they will have an awareness of the mission of building the world as community with a shared future," he says.