European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, officially launched “Flash Europa 28”, a new literary project on Wednesday.

"Flash Europa 28" proposes to showcase European flash fiction and offer free, original, creative and quality content to Chinese online readers. It will distribute European flash fiction written by young authors from each of the 28 member states of the European Union.

Through national competitions five submissions will be selected from each state, translated into Chinese and distributed free of charge, over a period of 28 weeks to Chinese audiences via multiple social media platforms.

"Flash Europa 28 presents a wonderful opportunity for Chinese people to discover young European writers – and what their lives are like. I hope that Chinese readers make the most of this exciting project by using it as a chance to learn more about Europe and what young Europeans are experiencing and writing about these days. "

Commissioner Vassiliou delivers a speech at the launch event at the Bookworm in Beijing; she said that Chinese people may be surprised to find that perceived cultural differences will melt away as they realize that young people in Europe are concerned about the same things as their Chinese counterparts, such as relationships, friends, studies, unemployment, travel, climate change and family.

Flash Europa 28 has been organized by the Delegation of the European Union to China in association with the Bookworm, a literary organization in China, Shitao Storytelling, Literature across Frontiers, China Flash Fiction Association, www.weixiaoshuo.com and embassies of all the 28 EU member states in Beijing.

The first flash fiction story, written by a young person from Germany, will be published on Monday Oct. 6.