Mauritius celebrated with book's second edition

Dancers perform on a beach in Mauritius. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Mauritius: Heaven on Earth, a travel book written by Chinese diplomats in Mauritius, was released in its second edition in Beijing on Friday.

The book's eight chapters depict Mauritius from aspects ranging from people and food to history and culture, also providing useful travel information for Chinese tourists to the island in the southwest of Indian Ocean.

"I know when visitors, especially from China, visit the island, they also want to acquire new knowledge and learn about a new culture. This is why I think this book is an essential read for perspective visitors to prepare themselves for the visit to Mauritius," said the Vice-Prime Minister of Mauritius Xavier-Luc Duval, who presented the new edition.

Book cover of Mauritius: Heaven on Earth. [Photo provided to China Daily]

More than a dozen Chinese diplomats who have worked at the Chinese embassy to Mauritius helped gather the information and pen the book. The first edition was published in 2014.

"The book offers the detailed observations of Chinese diplomats as they work and live in Mauritius, their understanding and deep emotion of the country and the people," said Zhang Ming, vice-minister of foreign affairs for China at the book release ceremony.

Since the agreement on mutual visa exemption between China and Mauritius was signed in 2013, the number of Chinese tourists to Mauritius has been growing. According to Duval, nearly 90,000 Chinese tourists visited the country in 2015, 41 percent more than the previous year.

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