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China’s Publishing Industry: Getting Bigger and Stronger

The reform and opening-up policy

of 1978 has had an enormous impact

on China’s publishing industry, and

recent years have witnessed even more

development within the industry.

One significant development lies

in the new types of publishing entities

that have emerged in the Chinese

marketplace. In total, 528 for-profit

publishing houses, 265 independent

audio/video and digital publishing

units, and more than 3,000 state-

owned Xinhua bookstores have been

restructured to form different state-

owned (or national) publishing groups.

Some of these groups have already

exerted their influence and dominance

both a t home and abroad, wh i le

others are beginning to f lex their

muscles. There are now three major

national publishing and media groups,

namely China Publishing Group, China

Education Publishing & Media Group,

and China Science and Technology

Publishing & Media Group. Some of

these enterprises have been very

successful in listing their companies on

the stock exchange and making sizeable

investments in both local and overseas

markets.

Cu l tu re- re la ted indust ry has

become an important part of the

C h i n e s e e c o n o m y. P u b l i s h i n g

companies no longer function solely as

disseminators of information from the

Reported by Feng Wei and Ren Dianshun Translated by Yang Guishan

government, but have the responsibility

to promote cultural development and

economic growth. By implementing

progressive changes to the publishing

industry—for instance, realignment

according to market strengths and

advocating an internationalization

strategy—China is fast becoming a

powerful publishing nation on the global

stage.

The next f ive years wi l l be a

crucial time for Chinese publishing.

The promotion of the cultural industry

within the country and abroad has

created tremendous opportunities for

the publishing players. At the same

time, many factors have come together

to provide the impetus needed by the

publishing industry to go beyond the

Chinese shores. These include the rise

of China on the global stage, the push

of “going-out” (internationalization)

pol icy, stronger domest ic support

(particularly in financial incentives and

market capitalization), fast-growing

domestic and overseas markets, and

better technology that makes it easier

for Chinese publishers to connect with

the rest of the world.

It is worth noting that since China

officially joined the Universal Copyright

Convention and the Berne Convention

for the Protection of Literary and Artistic

Works, i ts publ ishing industry has

benefited from increased collaboration

with overseas partners. In recent years,

the political, educational, and business

communities within China and beyond

Director of GAPP Liu Binjie and Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, signed a Strategic Cooperation Memorandum to Develop the Digital Publishing Industry.

S5 Sept.26,2011 S5

have spoken favorably of the significant

cultural strategy that has been adopted

by the central government, which is

to expand domestic market, obtain

capitalization and vigorously push the

“going-out” policy.

State-Owned Publishing Companies: Restructuring and

Going PublicThe move to get l isted on the

stock exchange is gathering momentum

among state-owned publishing entities.

Those that have been listed are set to

expand their business domestically and

globally while focusing on producing

qua l i ty works and s t rengthen ing

existing collaboration with overseas

partners. Given the rising number of

publicly listed publishing enterprises,

it is becoming clear that the Chinese

book industry will be shaped by market

forces, aka the invisible hands.

Boom in Going PublicIn this, the first year of the 12th

Five-Year Plan period (2011–2015),

state-owned publishing enterprises

have already started l isting in the

A-share market through backdoor

l is t ings. A case in point: publ ic ly

listed company ST Yuanfa announced

that it would purchase part of Hubei

Changjiang Publishing Group Co., Ltd.

and its 15 subsidiary companies—

valued at RMB2.5 billion—in a deal

that would allow the publishing group

to branch into the equity market.

However, this deal also marked the end

of backdoor listing onto the Shanghai

Stock Exchange.

S ince then , more pub l i sh ing

enterpr ises have made a beel ine

for the equity market. At the end of

2010, Fan Weiping, general director

of Department of Publication Industry

Development (which is part of the General

Administration of Press and Publication,

or GAPP), said that investors would see

a new batch of restructured publishing

enterprises with excellent performances

domestically and abroad. In fact, some

of the Beijing-based national publishing

giants are being regarded as rising stars

in the capital market.

Three months ago, two national

groups—China Science and Technology

Publishing & Media Group and China

Science and Technology Publishing &

Media Group Co., Ltd.—were officially

establ ished, and i t was prompt ly

announced that both would seek public

l ist ing in 2012. Meanwhi le, China

Education Publishing & Media Group

has been fast-forwarding its plan to get

listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange

by the f i rst half of next year. Nie

Zhenning, chairman of China Publishing

Group, said early this year that his

group would list as a separate company

by the first quarter of next year at

the latest. Many established Chinese

publ ishing groups, he added, are

seeking to list as separate companies

instead of as one big enterprise. China

Publishing Group, for instance, has 14

subsidiaries and 81 holding companies

as wel l as various joint stock and

affiliated companies.

Severa l l oca l (o r p rov inc ia l )

pub l i sh ing groups a re a l so busy

preparing for public listing. On March

28 , J i angsu Phoen i x Pub l i s h i ng

& Med ia Co., L td . comp le ted i t s

business registration in Nanjing, an

important step towards initial public

offering (IPO). On the other hand,

Zhongyuan Publishing & Media Group

injected RM1.369 billion into Xin’an

for a backdoor listing deal back in

2010. Hebei Publishing Group and

Shandong Publishing Group have also

restructured to become joint-stock

companies, and are now preparing for

IPOs. More companies are expected

to travel down the same path in the

next five years.

Effective policy plays a major

role in encouraging more publishing

companies to go public. In April 2009,

GAPP issued detailed guidelines on

how to further reform the press and

publishing industry. The guidelines

put forth the plan to build six or seven

publishing giants,with assets and sales

revenues exceeding RMB10 billion,

within the next three to five years.

Going public is one of the methods to

realize this plan. When news of the

backdoor listing of Hubei Changjiang

was announced, ST Yuanfa’s stock

was so popular its price jumped for

several consecutive trading days.

Based on the closing price on March

25, the market value of this group has

already exceeded RMB10 billion even

before it went public. (RMB10 billion

is approximately $1.6 billion; at press

time, there are about 6.4RMB to the

dollar.)

The rush to l i s t w i l l p rompt

small-scale companies or those with

limited resources to improve their

operations and set higher goals. As

usual, enterprises that have already

been publ ic ly l isted or which are

preparing to do so will have first-

mover advantage. As Wang Guike,

chairman of South Publishing & Media

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Group, said, “The capital market is

changing China’s publishing industry,

and those who seize the opportunities

to move ahead through bigger capital

injection through public listing will be at

the forefront of the industry.”

Ambitious plans and dreamsWith a public listing, key publishing

enterprises will emerge stronger and

have access to more financial resources.

So far, the blueprint for the publishing

industry in the 12th Five-Year Plan has

shown great results.

Investors are invariably attracted

to the performance of listed publishing

companies. By the end of the 12th Five-

Year Plan, the annual income of Time

Publishing and Media Co., Ltd. will

reach between RMB6 and RMB7 billion,

and Chinese Universe Publishing and

Media Co., Ltd. will achieve its goal of

hitting RMB20 billion in terms of sales

revenues.

Currently, many of these listed

companies have focused on new

media and digital publishing as ways of

gaining capital investment. Early this

year, China South Publishing & Media

Group signed a contract with Huawei

Technologies Co., Ltd., to restructure

Tianwen Digital Media so that it is

equipped to grab a greater share of the

digital products market. Time Publishing

and Chinese Universe Publishing will

also put more resources into their

digital publishing business and seek out

strategic partners with digital publishing

and new media experience.

Amassing cultural assets is one

goal that all listed publishing companies

share. Chinese Universe Publishing, for

instance, announced on August 11 that

it would invest RMB1.3 billion in five

major projects such as Xinhua Culture

City and Modern Publishing Logistics,

wh i ch focuses on d i s semina t ion

and production of cultural products.

Another RMB200 mil l ion wil l go to

its wholly owned subsidiary Jiangxi

Xinhua Distribution Group, and toward

restructuring Xinhua Joint Distribution

Co., Ltd. As for Time Publishing, it will

pour a sizeable amount of money into

building its cyber-port—a creative digital

community covering 40 acres that will

be populated by technology and digital

content tenants.

Meanwhi le , Ch ina Pub l i sh ing

Group will purchase a provincial-level

publishing company after its IPO.

China Education Publishing and Media

Group has also indicated its intention

to seek potential companies—both

local and abroad—for a merger in

order to raise capital. On the other

hand, China South Media is focused

on speeding up its restructuring and

putting its efforts into high-quality

traditional publishing projects and

unique publications over the next five

years. At Time Publishing, the plan

is to split the company’s assets for

individual listings, and the progress

has already started.

Many of these listed publishing

ent i t ies have also indicated their

ambition to create a few more listed

companies during the 12th Five-Year

Plan. Gong Shuguang, chairman of

Hunan Publishing Group Investment

Co.,Ltd. said that, by the end of 2015,

his group will have created two new

l isted companies focused on new

technologies and real estate, which

will have more than RMB20 billion and

RMB26 billion in sales revenues and

total assets, respectively.

According to Liu Binjie, director of

GAPP, the total output of the publishing

industry will reach RMB2,940 billion

by the end of 2015. The big number

and the rush to market capitalization

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will definitely push more companies

to rest ructure and become more

professional.

Market forces at workThe market cap i ta l i za t ion o f

various state-owned enterprises has

brought about one significant change:

the balance of executive power against

free market forces. Presently, these two

forces have combined to push China’s

publishing industry forward. According

t o Gong Shuguang , t he c en t ra l

government has already divided the

publishing industry into three different

levels. The first level is made up of four

or five national publishing groups with

the same number of provincial groups.

These companies will occupy 70% of

the book market. The second level

contains small professional publishing

groups , w i th 10% of the market

share, while the final level comprises

miscellaneous publishing institutions,

including privately owned publishing

companies.

For Cheng Sanguo, chief advisor

of Baidao New Publishing Institute, the

areas controlled by executive power—

textbook publishing, for instance—will

continue to exist for the foreseeable

future. “So, state-owned publishing

enterprises will be further classified

into three groups. The first group deals

with textbook adoption and publishing

business. The second group focuses

on general books in addition to some

textbooks, while the third group is

made up of listed companies that are

the result of mergers and acquisitions

(M&A).”

As a matter of fact, M&A in the

Chinese publishing industry is no longer

news. There have been many mergers

and acquisitions, such as between

Jiangxi Publishing Group and China

Peace Publishing House, Jilin Publishing

Group and Chinese Business Association

Publishing Co., Ltd., and Beijing Normal

University Publishing Group and Anhui

University Press. Going forward, M&A

and market capitalization are likely

to be the two strongest trends in the

Chinese publishing industry. Market

capitalization will determine the price

of the M&A and motivate companies to

pursue high-quality resources.

Over the next five years, several

ma jo r pub l i sh ing compan ies are

expected to break into smaller entities

and thereby redistribute their resources.

However, there are several challenges

that will surface. The M&A activities

will create some big companies, raising

the fear of industry monopoly. Large

publishing enterprise, after being listed

through governmental support, will exert

tremendous influence and bargaining

power. They may go on to form new

alliances and make new rules. But this will

cause the big publishing enterprises to

have more clout.

So while the growth of publishing

enterprises is good and beneficial to the

overall industry, that growth also sparks

fears that some enterprises will become

too big and too powerful. Presently,

there are no forces to counter the rapid

rise of major publishing enterprises and

any disadvantages that they may cause.

One industry insider has gone so far as

to say that small and niche publishers

will die in the face of these emerging

large enterprises. And this, he said, will

create big trouble, especially when the

market has only so few (loud) voices as

it is.

But Gong Shuguang is convinced

that the emergence of big powers in

the publishing industry will not diminish

the richness of China’s culture and

literature. “This is because, after all has

been said and done, the industry is still

going to bow to market forces of supply

and demand. As long as there are

varied demands, the supply will retain

its diversity.”

The Development of Digital Publishing

“ The mos t popu l a r book on

CMRead—Ch ina ’s mob i l e phone

e-reading platform—has been viewed

more than 1.2 billion times, makes a

profit of RMB15 million, and earns the

author RMB1.7 million, “ said Wang

Jianzhou, president of China Mobile,

at the Beijing International Book Fair

forum on August 31. This is exciting

news for the Chinese digital publishing

industry. But it is disheartening to note

that the book is of poor quality, and

is published by Cloudary Corporation,

an online community-driven literary

platform.

Last year, GAPP issued several

guidelines to accelerate the development

of Chinese digital publishing industry, and

lay down rules and tips on developing

e-books. This year, the number of e-books

for mobile phones has increased rapidly

and many e-commerce Web sites have

started to offer e-books. These provide a

good foundation for the development of

the industry, but much still needs to be

done.

Offering e-books on mobile phones

remains one of the most attractive

e-publishing models. Statistics from the

Ministry of Industry and Information

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Technology, released on July 25, show

that the number of people reading on

mobile phones has increased by 229%,

to 57 million, within the last six months.

Even though mobile-based e-reading

was made available only within the last

year, every month the platform boasts

45 million readers and earns RMB0.1

billion.

“I also read on my mobile phone,”

said Xi Guohua, the new secretary

of the Party Leadership Group and

vice-president of China Mobile, at the

contract-signing ceremony between his

company and GAPP on June 5.

The contract is not unique. On

June 21, 2010, GAPP had a strategic

memorandum o f coope ra t i on t o

promote digital publishing with another

telecommunication company, China

Telecom.

On July 5, Liu Binjie, director of

GAPP, and Wang Jianzhou, president of

China Mobile, signed a memorandum

of cooperat ion to develop d ig i ta l

publishing industry in Beijing. According

to the memorandum, GAPP will work

with China Mobi le to prov ide the

required technology and digital services

to Chinese publ ishing companies.

GAPP will also help publishing houses

collaborate with China Mobile, assist

CMRead in building and operating the

digital reading platform, and get more

e-books onto CMRead.

Xi Guohua said that China Mobile,

as a major strategic partner of GAPP,

will provide the necessary support to

get China’s digital publishing industry

up and running while operating within

the country’s legal framework and

market rules.

Private hands in the e-book industry

This year, the biggest news in the

digital publishing industry concerns

China’s biggest e-commerce company,

Jingdong Mall, an online retailer. The

new company that emerged from

this buy-over is called 360buy, and it

is going all out to provide discounts

on printed books while putting more

e-books in its mix. Meanwhile, two

other well-known book and electronics

retailers, Dangdang and Joyo Amazon,

are quietly building up their e-book

services as well.

In August, Li Guoqing, general

director of Dangdang, announced that

the company is moving into the e-book

arena, and will work on reducing the

price of e-readers that it offers through

its Web site by about RMB500 (about

$80). The latter is likely to increase

sales of the e-reader and encourage

more e-book sales. Dangdang and

Joyo Amazon have already collaborated

with many publishers and are moving

aggressively into the e-book segment.

Li Guoqing said that his company is

working on streamlining e-book pricing

and profit-sharing with publishers.

Basically, Dangdang gets 40% while

the publisher gets 60%. Negotiations

to get the pricing right have started.

Dangdang is hoping that publishers will

price their e-books reasonably, as high

prices that are too high will of course

drive away customers.

Joyo Amazon has stricter terms

than those offered by Dangdang. It

takes 55%, with publishers getting

45%. Joyo Amazon controls the pricing

also. In fact, once the agreement is

made between Joyo Amazon and the

publisher, the latter must provide the

retailer with all content and digital

rights. Additionally, if Joyo Amazon

creates the digital format, the profit-

sharing ratio will be adjusted to 60:40,

as Joyo is beating the production costs.

Over at 360buy, there is no clear

indication yet if it will move into the

e-book market. But many industry

watchers say that it is just a matter

of time. Suffice to say that with these

three big e-commerce companies

looking into e-book retai l ing, the

Chinese digital publishing industry will

get a considerable boost.

Flourishing digital publicationsBesides partnering w i t h t e l e com-

munications companies, GAPP has also

established various initiatives to help

publishers build their digital publishing

units. In July 2011, GAPP approved nine

new national-level digital publishing

units in addition to those in Shanghai,

Chongqing, Hangzhou, Hunan, Shaanxi,

Hubei, Tianjin, and Guangdong. More

publishers have sent in their requests

and proposa ls , and are awai t ing

approval from GAPP.

In total, GAPP is looking to create

around 10 national digital publishing

bases—or digital parks—by the end of

the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2015. GAPP is

determined to increase the gross output

of China’s digital publications, with a

target for the segment set at 25%

of the country’s total book market. By

2020, GAPP aims to make sure that all

publishing houses digitize their lists and

have more digital products and services

in the market.

However, several provinces have

been acting according to their own five-

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year plans. Shanghai, for instance,

has a buzzing digital publishing and

new media industry. At Shanghai Press

and Publication Bureau, its 12th Five-

Year Plan contains, among others, the

establishment of an expert group to

promote digital publishing industry.

Shanghai has a lso p laced d ig i ta l

publishing at the top of its to-do list. In

fact, the Shanghai provincial government

has supported numerous e-publishing

projects, including Xinhua e-Bookstore

and e-schoolbag. By the end of 2015,

Shanghai aims to have three to five

leading digital publishing companies

with annual revenues exceeding RMB2

billion, and to grow the digital publishing

market to hit RMB70 billion.

Over in Hunan Province, one of

China’s important cultural centers,

d ig i ta l publ ish ing is a lso an i tem

in its own Five-Year Plan. In fact,

the provincial government wants to

develop print and digital publishing

simultaneously, and to have digital

publishing revenues hitting RMB5 billion

by 2015. More than 100 projects are

in the pipeline at its digital publishing

base, and these include products for

mobile phone, educational products,

and e-commerce initiatives.

Ove ra l l , t he Ch inese d i g i t a l

publ ishing industry wi l l no doubt

change and grow over time, thanks to

government support and the inevitable

introduction of new technologies. For

now, there is no clear leader among

the publishing companies in terms of

digital publishing, and the income from

digital products remains insignificant.

Admittiedly, progress so far has been

rather slow, especially compared with

the rapid rates of change in other

countries. However, as is clear, the

market potential is huge.

Certainly, the Chinese industry

can learn a good deal from overseas

publishing companies, whose industries

are far into their own digital revolutions

in both products and e-commerce. As

the digital parks and the pioneering

provincial efforts continue, there is

great potential for growth.

Privately Owned Houses and Government SupportPrivately owned publishing companies

are fast becoming a new force in China’s

book industry. There are more than 5,000

such companies right now working on book

packaging. Such companies do not have

the right to publish books, but by partnering

with state-owned publishing enterprises,

they can grow and play a major role in the

industry.

I n r e c e n t y e a r s , p r i va t e o r

independent publishing companies have

been given a tremendous boost by the

government. Instead of focusing on

simple production of books, they have

broadened their business models to

include media production and digital

publishing.

The right to publish will take some time to happen

Since 2009, a series of guidelines

have been issued that offers private

pub l i s h i ng c ompan i e s a way t o

recognition and operational legitimacy.

Officials from various government

bod ies a l l ind icate the i r suppor t

for private publ ishing. Dur ing the

National People’s Congress and the

Chinese People’s Political Consultative

C o n f e r e n c e i n 2 0 1 1 , A l l - C h i n a

Federation of Industry and Commerce

put forth a proposal to gradually open

publishing rights to private publishing

houses. Its intention is to promote and

support such publishing entities.

Several suggestions were made

in the proposal. Firstly, issuance of

ISBNs can be made after GAPP has

evaluated the private publishing house

that will handle the specific publication.

Secondly, GAPP can set the strategic

One of China's largest digital publishing cloud computing centers, the Tianjin National Digital Publishing Base, began operations in August.

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plan for the development of private

publishing companies in order to define

the industry and bring these companies

into the government’s national and

local five-year plans. This way, the

government will be able to offer more

support to private publishing houses

and build a regulatory framework that

promotes fair competition within the

book industry. Experts from both state-

owed and private publishing companies

have unanimously agreed that it is a

matter of time before private publishing

companies are given the rights to

publish. So the central government

might as well set the path and point

them to the right direction.

The growth o f pr iva te ly own

publishing houses is obvious to all. Since

the establishment of Beijing Publishing

Innovation Park a year ago, for instance,

32 companies have moved into it. Six

are digital publishing companies and

the rest, traditional publishing houses

including Beijing Tiechu Culture and Book

Co., Ltd., Beijing Time New Classics Co.,

Ltd., Ltd. and Beijing Thinker Culture and

Communication Co., Ltd.. The park offers

favorable rental and tax policies. Private

publishing companies within this park can

have their name printed on books that

they publish. Granting limited rights to

private publishing companies is a good

start to fair competition and the growth

of the overall book industry.

Capital injection creates bigger and stronger privately own

publishing companiesRecent months have seen private

book enterprises expanding in size

through publ ic l is t ing, f inancing,

and collaboration with state-owned

publishing companies. The listing of

Hunan Tangel Publishing Co., Ltd. is

one such example.

After i ts successful l is t ing on

the Shenzhen Stock Exchange last

December, Hunan Tangel Publishing

made its appearance at the Beijing

Book Transaction Fair—one of China’s

top three exhibit ions for the book

industry—and created a lot of buzz.

Chairman Xiao Zhihong said that the

company would hit annual revenue

and profit margin of RMB2 billion and

RMB100 million, respectively, within the

next three years. He is striving to build

the company into a first-class provider

of publications and cultural products

for the youth market. The success and

growth of Hunan Tangel has prompted

many others to follow suit.

Chen Liming, general manager

of 10-year-old Beijing Classic & Wise

Culture Development Co., Ltd., is

planning to complete the company’s

f i n a n c i n g p l a n w i t h i n t h e n e x t

five years. Beijing Thinker Culture

Communications, Shanghai 99 Reader

Culture Industry Co., Ltd., and Beijing

Mediatime Books Co are all planning to

go down the same path.

Last year, a few private enterprises

gained capital injection from outside

the book industry. Shandong Century

Jinbang Book Co., Ltd. received RMB1

billion while Xiron Culture obtained

RMB100 mi l l ion from the venture

capital company Dinghui. Shen Haobo,

president of Xiron Culture, believes that

obtaning capital injection is necessary

in the deve lopment of any g iven

industry, and that by attracting such

investments, the publishing industry will

become more competitive and stable.

Collaborating with state-owned

publishing enterprises is another way

forward for private publishing houses.

Several collaborations have emerged

in the past few months. On January 7, A building in the Beijing Publishing Innovation Park.

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Beijing Jiuzhou Yingcai Books Planning

Co., Ltd. and Beijing Publishing Group

Co., Ltd. established Beijing Education

Holding. Less then two weeks later,

China South Publishing & Media Group

Co., Ltd. and Beijing Booky Publishing

Inc. signed a strategic cooperation

agreement to set up China South Booky

Publishing Inc.

Col laborations between state-

owned and private enterprises aside,

these new companies are expanding

t h e i r s c o pe b e yond t r a d i t i o n a l

publishing. A case in point: Beijing

Fonghong Media Co., Ltd., which was

China’s first collaboration between

state-owned and private enterprises,

has been wel l funded and is now

reorganized into two companies—

Chongqing Decision Books & Media Co.,

Ltd. and Tianjin Ifengspace Media Co.,

Ltd.. The goal of spinning off into two

companies is to diversify their platforms

for content, going beyond print.

“From single-book collaboration

in the past to project cooperation and

now capital-based agreement, state-

owned and private book enterprises

have witnessed a major shift in the book

industry. Such cooperation combines

resources, making the whole greater

than the sum of its parts,” said Bao Hong

of China Press and Publishing Institue.

Huang Junqing, chairman of Booky

Publishing Inc, believes that the future

development of the Chinese publishing

industry will be highly centralized. Private

publishing enterprises must become

big and strong if they want to gain a

foothold in the cultural industry. Such

collaboration gives private companies

legitimacy and a proper identity. Then,

the companies will have the foundation

and framework to expand into other

areas, such as film, television, and

digital publishing.

At the same time, some private

publishing companies have focused

the i r attent ion and resources on

producing blockbusters in order to

maximize profits. And blockbusters can

then translate into successes in other

media. Beijing Thinker Co’s executive

director Wang Xiaodong said, “The

book rights for hit TV series Tie Lihua

and movie Let the Bullets Fly belong

to us, and it is natural for us to move

onto film- and TV-based projects.” Both

Fonghong Media Co., Ltd. and Booky

Publishing Inc are preparing to set up

their own media production companies

by leveraging their content.

For privately owned publishing

enterprises, digital publishing offers yet

another promising field. “Even though

there are lots of uncertainties about digital

publishing, especially about its profitability,

digital publishing’s impact on traditional

publishing is obvious to everybody. In

order to survive and grow, we are willing

to try new ways to forge our future,” said

Mao Wenfeng, chairman of Jiangsu Keyi

Publishing & Distribution Group Co., Ltd..

Many private publishing companies

have already placed digital publishing

at the top of their agenda. In March,

Jiangsu Keyi Group Co Lt and Jiangsu

Sanyuan Education Co., Ltd. signed an

agreement to invest RMB200 million to

jointly introduce new technologies to the

educational sector and take their first

step into digital publishing. Shandong

Spark International Media Group has

even announced that digital publishing

would determine the company’s survival,

as seen from its new slogan, “Survival

of spark lies in digital.” Lu Jinbo, general

manager of Wan Rong Book Development

Co., Ltd., said, “The Internet has changed

China in the past 10 years. And digital

publishing will change the face of the

book industry in the same way over the

next 10 years. As such, our company will

gradually increase our digital products to

stay relevant.”

P r i va t e l y owned pub l i s h i n g

enterprises are constantly evolving

and expanding. Their new off ices

and presence in newly established

industr ia l parks are indicat ive of

t he i r g row th and deve l opmen t .

Jiangsu Keyi Group, for instance, is

building a cultural and creative park

in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing.

In Guangdong Province, Zhihong

Educat ion Group and i ts partners

are construct ing Impression Qidu

Cultural Industrial Park in the high-

tech deve lopment zone in Z ibo,

while Everight Publishers Co., Ltd. is

establishing a Creative Industrial Park in

Dongguan. As well, Jinxing International

Education Group is constructing Jilin

Education Publishing Industrial Park

in Tiedong district in Siping. These

industrial parks are almost all financed

by these pr ivate enterpr ises with

support from the local government.

“For private publishing companies,

the right to publish is a restriction. But

the right to publish is tied to national

policies and governmental principles,

and that is beyond private enterprises’

control. However, the government has

given them sufficient room to grow and

develop. For now, the best way forward

is for these privately owned companies

to improve themselves and make their

marks.” said Bao Hong.

S12 Sept.26,2011S12

China Publishing Group: Focusing onLong-Term International Strategy

One of the national entities in the

Chinese book industry, China Publishing

Group, takes its role in promoting

Chinese culture and literature abroad

very seriously. Liu Bogen, vice-president

of China Publishing Group, recently said

that his group would seek to leverage

the company’s publishing resources

while continuing to boost China’s “go-

out,” or international, program.

The yea r 2011 marks a new

milestone in China Publishing Group’s

ambitious efforts. In the first half of

this year, the group sold the rights

to more than 100 titles, including Ai

Reported by Feng Wei Translated by Yang Guishan

Mi’s The Love under the Hawthorn

Tree (published by The People’s

Literature Publishing House), New

Problems in China’s Copyright

Challenge (The Commercial Press),

Grandma’s Quotations (Zhonghua

Book Company), and Robin Li:

Baidu’s King of Search (Modern

Press) . “Wi th the he lp of our

overseas subsidiaries in more than

10 countries, we have also held

a series of book fairs in May and

July in the U.S., Hong Kong and

Macao to celebrate the centennial

of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution," said

Liu. "This is the second time our

group organized such event outside

of China. The first one—called

‘Exhibition of Excellent Books from

China Publishing Group’—was held

in 2007. We have also taken advantage

of Xinhua Bookstore’s U.S. branches to

create the buzz for big events such as

these book fairs,” Liu added.

“In order to form a truly global and

wide-ranging international program to

spread Chinese culture and literature,

China Publishing Group will focus on

two specific goals: increase rights sales

while adding more overseas branches,

and improve accessibility to Chinese

culture while popularizing major works,”

added Liu. “What we have achieved in

the past nine months is just the very

beginning of our efforts.”

Ch i na Pub l i s h i ng G roup w i l l

prioritize four categories of books when

recommending Chinese works for selling

rights to overseas partners. Said Liu, “The

first category belongs to bestselling and

high-quality books that have been produced

by our major publishing companies. The

second one involves series by famous

authors or well-known personalities.

The third category are books about the

developments and changes in modern

China’s economy and politics, and the last

category are books about China itself.”

R i gh t s sa l e s have i n c reased

significantly at China Publishing in recent

months. The Love Under the Hawthorn

Tree, for instance, has been sold to 11

countries, including the U.K., France,

Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway,

Greece, Sweden, Canada, Japan, and

Taiwan, and is now available in 10

languages. (The big screen adaptation,

directed by famed Chinese director

Zhang Yimou, premiered several months

ago under the name Under the Hawthorn

Tree .) This book is one of the group’s

two bestsellers in terms of rights sales.

The other title is Yu Dan’s Confucius

from the Heart , originally published by

Zhonghua Book Company. “When it

comes to choosing books for export,

classical works that are presented in

attractive formats are our first choice.

Works that focus on fundamental values

such as honesty, kindness and inner

Liu Bogen, v-p, China Publishing

S13 Sept.26,2011 S13

beauty come next. And even though we

prefer to export bestsellers that do well

domestically, we have to consider the

international audience, looking for titles

that can straddle both markets,” added

Liu.

Recent months have also seen

China Publishing Group taking another

big step in its “going-out” program

by exploring synergies within its own

publishing companies. In 2010, People’s

Literature Publishing House, known for

its long-established relationships with

various multinational publishing houses,

was chosen to spearhead the group’s co-

publishing program. The program is aimed

at putting together writers, illustrators,

translators, and publishers from China and

various countries to produce high-quality

works. People’s Literature Publishing

House and its partners will invite the best

writers from China and from the partners’

countries to create two titles under the

same theme or format, and bind the

works in one volume. This will then

be published in China and the partner

country in two languages.

A case in point: In August 2010, a

Sino-Greek publishing cooperation was

signed to produce and distribute two

children’s books in a cultural exchange

project. According to the agreement,

two children’s books will be published:

one written by a Greek author and

illustrated by a Chinese illustrator, and

the other written by a Chinese author

in collaboration with a Greek illustrator.

Both books, in one volume, will be

published simultaneously in Greece and

China, and this, it is hoped, will help

bring both ancient cultures together.

Another important step taken by

China Publishing Group is to establish

joint ventures with top publishing

companies around the globe. Last year,

it set up four joint venture publishing

companies with Xinhua Bookstores:

China Publ ish Tohan Inc., Aurora

Publishing Limited, and two branches

of Xinhua Bookstore (in Brooklyn and

Manhattan). China Publish Tohan,

for instance, is a joint effort by China

Publ ishing Group, China Nat iona l

Pub l i c a t i ons Impor t and Expo r t

Corporation (CNPIEC), Japan’s Tohan

Corporation, and China Media Group

Corporation (Japan). Fifty-one percent of

this joint venture company is owned by

China Publishing Group.

Presently, China Publishing Group

has established 28 overseas branches in

countries such as the U.S., U.K., France,

Germany, and Japan. “We

wi l l cont inue to

cooperate with

major international publishing groups to

promote Chinese culture," said Liu. "In

the case of joint venture cooperation,

we work on the premise that we will

hold the majority shares." Liu said

the company plans to increase its

overseas branches to 40 within the

next five years. “We are still at the

initial ‘going-out’ stage. Our plan is

to cultivate and produce excellent

works for an international audience

instead of just focusing on selling

rights and reaping short-term profits.

Making profit itself is less important

t h a n d o i n g b u s i n e s s

in te rnat iona l l y and

promoting Chinese

culture and literature

abroad.”

Liu Bogen meets delegates from Wolters Kluwer.

China Publishing headquarters.

S14 Sept.26,2011S14

Globalization of China EducationPublishing & Media Group

For Li Pengyi, a famous publisher and

President of China Education Publishing

and Media Group, the ultimate goal of

his career is to develop the company into

a truly international entity and a leading

educational publisher in the world. To

achieve this, he plans to seek financing

through public listing on the Shanghai

Stock Exchange and opportunities in the

overseas markets.

First, some background information

about China Education Publ ishing

and Media Group: It comprises three

main companies—People’s Education

Reported by Ren Dianshun Translated by Yang Guishan

Press, Higher Education Press,

and Language and Literature

Press—and is one of China ’s

larger publishing groups. Higher

Education Press itself ranks #40

in a l is t of the top 50 global

publishers in 2010, announced by

Publishers Weekly (July 4, 2011).

This ranking is the highest ever

achieved by a Chinese publisher.

The formation of China Education Publishing &

Media GroupThe ceremony celebrating the

group’s formation was held in the

Great Hall of the People in Beijing

on December 18, 2010. It was a

momentous occasion marking the

establishment of the biggest and

strongest publishing and media

group that China has ever seen.

Overall, this group, a government-

owned cultural enterprise, is the sum of

several companies. In addition to People’s

Education Press, Higher Education Press,

Language and Literature Press, the

companies China Educational Instrument

and Equipment Corporation, and China

Educational Publications Import & Export

Corporation, are part of the group.

People’s Education Press has been

in the business for more than 60 years

and specializes in course books, teaching

materials, and educational texts. Its

materials are used throughout China’s

elementary schools. Higher Education

Press , as ind icated by i t s name,

focuses on books for higher education,

vocational/technical education, and

adu l t educa t i on . Language and

Literature Press belongs to the Ministry

of Educat ion (under the Nat ional

Language Committee) and is the only

publishing house in China to specialize

in Chinese course books. It plays an

important role in the development

of the Chinese language as well as

Chinese education in China.

It is estimated that China Education

Publishing & Media Group publishes well

over 8,000 titles per year. Its 2010 sales

hit RMB6 billion, with a net profit of

RMB900 million. According to Li Pengyi,

the group has more than a 50% share

of the elementary education market

and 70% of the senior high education

segment. It also covers around 30%

of the higher and vocational/technical

education segment.

Besides these three publishing

houses, China Educational Instrument

and Equipment Corporation, the largest

importer and exporter of its kind in

China, has an annual turnover of

RMB1 billion. And China Educational

P u b l i c a t i o n s I m p o r t & E x p o r t

Corporation is the only company of such

scale and type of operation in China.

China Education Publishing & Media

Li Pengyi, President

S15 Sept.26,2011 S15

Holdings Co., Ltd., was registered with

the State Administration for Industry

and Commerce on March 31 of this year

and is now run as a stock corporation.

According to Li Pengyi, the group is

now preparing for public listing in the

A-share market, hopefully in 2012.

Overseas collaborationPr ior to the group format ion,

People ’s Educat ion Press, Higher

Educa t i on P res s , and Language

and L i terature Press a l ready had

well-established relationships with

multinational publishing companies

such as Pearson Education, Springer,

Reed Elsevier, Oxford University Press,

and Cambridge University Press.

Member companies of the group

have been actively exploring additional

ways to go international, publishing

course books on Chinese as a second

language, and importing and exporting

high-quality STM journals and books for

use in the educational sectors.

In recent years, People’s Education

Press has developed several outstanding

teaching materials, such as Standard

Chinese , My Mandarin , and Follow Me

and Learn Mandarin , and sold the rights

to Asian, European, and American

publishers. One series launched by

Higher Education Press, Experiencing

Chinese , has become the first Mandarin

teaching material used in several

countries, including Thailand, Australia

and the U.S. (in Chicago). In Thailand,

Experiencing Chinese has been selected

by its Ministry of Education for more

than 500,000 students in about 600

primary and secondary schools.

Frontiers, a series of journals in

English, is the result of collaboration

between Higher Education Press and

Germany’s Springer Group. These

journals function as a cross-disciplinary

platform to communicate the latest

research and development in a number

of fields. To date, 24 journals are being

published both online and in print,

with 17 covering natural sciences,

engineer ing, technology and l i fe

sciences, and seven focusing on social

sciences. As part of the agreement,

Springer handles overseas distribution of

the journals, while Higher Education Press

takes care of publication and production.

Meanwhile, China Educational

P u b l i c a t i o n s I m p o r t & E x p o r t

Corporation and China Educational

Instrument and Equipment Corporation

enjoy long-term relationships with

various countries around the world.

Once the group is listed, Li Pengyi

plans to find like-minded international

bus i nes ses fo r co l l abo ra t i on o r

acquisition, and to strengthen the focus

on educational and STM publications.

“Me rge r a nd a c qu i s i t i o n i s t h e

preferable method because it allows us

to realize three goals simultaneously:

investment in overseas ent i t ies ,

internationalization of the group, and

learning from international partners

on ways to manage our company in a

more professional manner,” said Li .

Li believes that the go-international

strategy of China’s publishing industry

can be realized through three steps. “Let

me use the sea and a ship as metaphors.

Firstly, we should go to the sea using a

borrowed ship, in which case we enter

the global markets through copyright

sales. Secondly, we use a ship made

by ourselves. In this case, we establish

companies overseas and build our own

brand. Thirdly, we use a ship bought

from others, which means that we buy

established international companies

through capital investment.”

S o t h e p r o c e s s o f “ g o i n g

international” at China Education

Publishing and Media Group, added Li,

requires three important steps: the full

integration of different entities within

the group, public l ist ing to obtain

capital, and the execution of a properly

designed global strategy.

Communist Party of China official and State Councilor Liu Yandong (right), with Director of General Administration of Press and Publication Liu Binjie (left), at the inaugural ceremony of the China Education Publishing & Media Group.

S16 Sept.26,2011S16

Science and Technology Publishing & Media Group: Realizing Potential through Restructuring

China Science and Technology

Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd., is

the youngest publishing media group

in China, having been established

only this July. It is also one of the

three largest nat ional publ ish ing

media groups in China.

T h e s i g n i f i c a n c e o f i t s

establishment is evident from the

publicity received during its inaugural

meet ing, which was attended by

several members from the Communist

Reported by He Wenjing Translated by Yang Guishan

Pa r ty ’s Po l i t bu ro a s we l l a s

s tate counc i lor L iu Yandong.

T h e P o l i t b u r o ’ s s t a n d i n g

committee member also called to

congratulate the company.

At the inaugural meeting,

Liu Binjie, director of General

Admin i s t ra t i on o f P ress and

Publication (GAPP), said that the

establishment of China Science

and Technology Publ ish ing &

Media Group wil l help to kick-

start the transformation of China’s

current science and technology

publishing industry that has long

been character ized by smal l -

scale operations with scattered

resources and low competitiveness.

He wants to see the publishing

group stepping up to the plate

to advance scientif ic research

both at home and abroad, improve its

competitiveness and lead the country

in science and technology publications,

especially in helping to realize the

national “going-out” strategy.

This new publishing group has

China Science Publishing Group in its

fold, with Posts and Telecom Press,

and Publishing House of Electronic

Industry Press as its stakeholders.

China Science Publishing Group

is known for its many well-regarded

authors and academicians from the

Chinese Academy of Sciences and

the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Ove r t h e p a s t two yea r s , a f t e r

restructuring and consolidating its

list to focus on science, technology,

med ic ine , educa t ion , and soc ia l

sciences, China Science Publishing

Group now boasts 260 academic

journals. Its growth between 1996

and 2000 has been in the double

digits. So far, it has published 14,637

titles, with an average title increase of

9.6% per year. Its 2010 total assets

were va lued a t RMB1.26 b i l l i on ,

while its net assets, sales revenues,

and ne t p ro f i t were a t RMB0.83

billion, RMB0.98 billion, and RMB0.15

billion, respectively. Compared to the

previous year, its total assets, net

assets, sales revenue, and net profit

have increased by 114%, 200%,

96%, and 198%, respectively.

In the 2010 Publishing Industry

Analysis Report released by GAPP,

China Science Publishing Group was

ranked #5 in terms of overall scale

of operation. The group has jumped

three slots within a year, helped no

doubt by its ambitious growth and

development.

Posts and Telecom Press, and

Pub l i s h i ng Hou se o f E l e c t r on i c

Liu Jianyao, President

S17 Sept.26,2011 S17

Publishing & Media Group Co.,

Ltd., is busy working on its market

capitalization plan. Rumors have

it that the company will have its initial

public offering by the end of this year. If

that happens, then the group will have

even more capital to further restructure

and expand its operations.

Liu Jianyao, President of China

Science and Technology Publishing

& Media Group Co., Ltd., said that

the group wil l focus its efforts on

l a un ch i ng a ma j o r s c i e n c e and

technology resources platform in

o rde r t o conso l i da te i t s ma rke t

presence. To date, it has launched

a Science Library platform that will

generate around RMB1 million for the

company. Next on the group’s to-do

list is a Science eStudy series.

W i t h i n t h e n e x t f i v e y e a r s ,

d ig i ta l pub l i sh ing i s expected to

become a major part of the group,

and various initiatives are currently

be i ng pu t i n p l a ce t o i n t eg ra t e

different resources, expand R&D

efforts and build overseas markets.

Meanwhile, the group is working on

a cooperative publishing platform

that will be shared among its three

major entit ies, and is planning to

extend its digital services to cater

to different subjects and levels of

interest. Its goal, ultimately, is to

create a group that is equally strong

in both tradit ional publishing and

digital offerings.

Industry Press, are also ranked high

on the GAPP repor t , mos t l y due

to their special ization and market

strength.

W i th these th ree pub l i sh ing

entities in its stable, China Science

and Technology Publishing & Media

Group is now working on combining

in te rna l resources , merg ing the

operations, and integrating various

pub l i sh ing asse t s owned by the

Chinese Academy of Science, other

central ministries and government

agenc ies . Eventua l l y, the g roup

wi l l handle a l l of China ’s sc ience

and techno logy pub l i ca t ions—in

book, journal, database and digital

formats—and wi l l take charge of

impo r t s and expo r t s a s we l l a s

printing of the publications.

Given its new structure and big-

scale operation, it is not surprising to

hear that China Science and Technology

The inaugural meeting of China Science and Technology Publishing & Media Group.

Some tit les from C h i n a S c i e n c e and Techno logy Publishing & Media Group.

S18 Sept.26,2011S18

Establ ished on December 25,

2008, China South Publishing & Media

Group Co., Ltd. (or China South Media,

in short), has positioned itself as the

leader in the Chinese publishing and

media industry. It made history when

its initial public offering last October at

the Shanghai Stock Exchange raised

the largest capital ever recorded in the

industry.

According to its 11th five-year plan,

China South Media is taking significant

measures to strengthen and promote

its international strategy through

enhancing col laboration and joint

ventures with overseas organizations. A

series of awards, such as National Key

Cultural Export Enterprise, Progress in

Copyright Export Award, and Award for

Outstanding Progress in the Promotion

China South Media: Breaking into International Markets

of Chinese Books, is being used to

advance and speed up its going-out,

internationally focused strategy.

Quality, not just quantityIn recent years, exports of rights

and printed books at China South Media

have been growing steadily. Its rights

deals have increased by more than 50%

in each of the past three years, hitting

191 in 2010. Meanwhile, the quality

of its titles has also improved by leaps

and bounds. Between 2009 and 2010,

a dozen titles from China South Media

were selected for the Chinese Classic

International Publishing Project—the

most from any local publishing group.

Each year, many titles published in

Hunan Province are sold all over the world

through China South Media’s operations

and distribution channels. In 2006, two

million sets of The Complete Works of Wu Guangzhong were exported, bringing

in close to RMB1.5 million, and setting

the highest sales record for a single work

for the province. Several other exports

have made history as well. Math , an

educational title published by Hunan

Education Press, for instance, has been

exported to Taiwan. It is the first book

used in mainland China that has been

selected for adoption in Taiwan. Another

educational title, History, from Yuelu

Publishing House, is used in Sangmyung

University in Korea, and became China

South Media’s f irst textbook to be

adopted by a foreign university.

Co-publishing plays an important

part in China South Media’s going-out

strategy. One of its major co-publishing

Reported by Yang Guishan

China South Publishing & Media Group launched its initial public offering at the Shanghai Stock Exchange on October 28, 2010.

S19 Sept.26,2011 S19

projects is the World Classical Music

series, which is jointly developed by

Hunan Literature & Art Publishing

House and Schott Publishing Group. It

is regarded as a bridge linking Chinese

and Western cultures. Another co-

publishing project, Eulenburg Version:

The World’s Top 50 Classical Orchestras ,

is now available in three languages—

English, German, and Chinese—with

Schott Publishing handling the German

and Engl ish edit ions. This ser ies ’

success has prompted both publishing

houses to agree on producing 200 titles

together at the rate of 20 per year.

The Comp l e t e Wo r k s o f Wu

Guanzhong from Hunan Arts Press

is a very successful export as well.

Published in both Chinese and English—

with the English edition available in

both print and electronic formats—

this unique title has been

sold to many Southeast

Asian publishers and

its rights bought by

seve ra l Eu ropean

p u b l i s h e r s . T h e

Korean edition of Just

When We Were Young

Pioneers and City of Love ,

publ ished with Areeseem

Press, is another co-publishing success.

Faces of China through the Eyes of an

American Principal Year of the Rabbit

from the China Show series that was

launched in the U.K. is made possible

through the collaboration between

Hunan Electronic, Audio, and Video

Press, European Publishing House,

and Author House. A new title, The

Year of the Dragon , will be published

soon. These examples showcase China

South Media’s ability to enhance its

international strategy through different

methods of collaboration.

This year, China South Media has

started inviting overseas authors to join

its publishing program—a move that

would further enrich its list and increase

its profit. Meanwhile, the company is

busy promoting the English edition of

Faces of China through the Eyes of an

American Principal internationally with

Hanban (National Office for Teaching

Chinese as a Foreign Language) and

the Confucius Institution.

Aside from book and rights exports,

China South Media’s printing business has

taken a presence in the U.S. and France.

In the fi rst half of this year, Hunan Tianwen

Xinhua Printing Group took over Paris-

based book-printer Kryum Print. Almost

at the same time, Hunan Book Company

also expanded its business to take on

packaging printing. One of its

first overseas projects,

bringing in sales in

excess of US$4 million,

involves printing for

an American food

company.

Digital products and moreChina South Media has embarked

on several projects that would leverage

its content and help to transform the

company from a traditional publisher to

one that is in tune with the Google/iPad/

Twitter era.

Together with Huawei, the world's

second-largest telecommunications

solutions provider, China South Media

has built a platform to market and sell

its digital products globally. Leveraging

on both par t ies ’ operat iona l and

technological strengths, this platform

may a l low Ch ina South Med ia to

become a huge player in the global

market for digital reading. During

the process, an RMB300-million joint

venture was established to reorganize

Beijing-based Tianwen Digital Media &

Technology Co., Ltd. Today, Tianwen

uses Huawei’s 15 mobile platforms

to distribute electronic newspapers

to more than 320 million customers

including those from Indonesia, Ghana,

Syria, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. It is

now China’s largest news network with

the biggest number of overseas users.

both print and electronic formats—

this unique title has been

sold to many Southeast

Asian publishers and

Just

When We Were Young

City of Love ,

publ ished with Areeseem

packaging printing. One of its

first overseas projects,

bringing in sales in

excess of US$4 million,

At the book launch for "Fine Arts in the Era of Mao Zedong" at the Beijing Fair.

China South Media: Breaking into International Markets

S20 Sept.26,2011S20 S20 Sept.26,2010S20

China South Media has also signed

a strategic agreement with McGraw-

Hi l l Educat ional Publ ishing Group

to share publishing resources and

distribution channels. The agreement

further identified subject areas such

as geography, history, music, and art

as those with the most copublishing

potential. A series of gerontology

titles that has been published through

this joint effort is now listed in China’s

international “going-out” program. On

the digital publishing side, Tianwen

Cartoon Company (a China South Media

subsidiary) and Japan’s Kadokawa

Group have come together to set up

Tianwen-Kadokawa Cartoon Company

in Guangzhou. By leveraging Japan’s

mo re ma tu re manga pub l i s h i ng

industry, this joint venture is focused

on promoting original graphic novels

and light novels, and converting such

works into multimedia products, thus

accelerating China’s entry into the

global cartoon/animation industry.

Hunan Audio and Video Publishing

House also ventures overseas with

its collaboration with the Confucius

Institute in Korea. Its first co-publishing

project, Charming Mandarin: Reading

Stories and Learning Mandarin , is the

first digital publication that China South

Media has developed with an overseas

organization.

Through its many collaborations,

China South Media now has more

c h a n n e l s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o

penetrate international markets. Right

now, the company is preparing an

international Web site that will serve as

a communications platform for overall

international strategy.

Strengthening human resourcesI n o r d e r t o c r e a t e m a r k e t -

focused products and d ivers i f ied

marketing channels for its “going-

out” strategy, personnel with the

right attitude and talents need to

be recru i ted. Accord ing ly, Ch ina

S o u t h M e d i a h a s e s t a b l i s h e d

international divisions both at its

headquarters and its branch offices,

and these are now staffed by many

talented multilingual speakers with

proven expertise in publishing and

marketing. They form a team with

a good collective understanding of

how business is done internationally.

At the same time, China South

Media has set up various awards and

incentive schemes to encourage more

copyright sales and international co-

publishing projects. Goals have been

set for annual performance based on

criteria such as the number of rights

sold, the qual i ty of co-publ ishing

projects, and the revenues generated

from such projects. The evaluation

results directly impact the subsidiary’s

annual performance and are reflected

in the yearly income of the manager in

charge.

T h e c o m p a n y h a s a l s o

strengthened its relationship with

overseas reta i l out lets and sa les

channels in order to streamline the

process of exporting printed books.

In the future, overseas branches of

China South Media wi l l take over

export and distr ibution functions,

especially in global publishing hubs

such as Frankfurt and New York.

Currently, the company works with

nine major retailers to distribute its

titles in countries such as the U.S.,

Germany, Austral ia, New Zealand,

Korea, and Malaysia.

China South has successfu l ly

expanded its international presence

by focusing on product quality, and

market needs. Over the next f ive

years, China South Media intends

to increase its R&D investment on

international markets and expand

its digital publishing market. More

collaboration with overseas retailers

is being planned, while its printing

bus iness is be ing pr imed to take

on more international projects. The

company is also working with both local

and central governments to get export

subsidies or exemptions, and other

types of assistance in various areas to

help it penetrate tougher markets in

Europe, the U.S., and Japan where more

investment is expected.

Ch ina South Publ i sh ing & Med i a G roup headquarters.

S21 Sept.26,2011 S21

Table 1: Top 100 bestselling translations in China (2008 to June 2011)

Year Number of translated titles Homegrown titles

2008 28 72

2009 25 75

2010 21 79

Up to June 2011 24 76

Market Analysis: on Bestslling Translations in ChinaBy Beijing OpenBook Co., Ltd. Translated by Yang Guishan

Chart 1: Origin of the top 100 translated bestsellers inthe fi rst half of 2011

Chart 2: Main genres of the top 100 translated bestsellers

This market analys is covers only market

bestsellers in translation, and is focused on three

genres: fi ction, nonfi ction and children’s books. The

data comes from Beijing OpenBook’s defi nitive book

retail monitoring service. Set up in July 1998, this

service collects information on book sales in big

and medium-sized cities, and crunches the data to

determine general trends of the national book market

and quantify changes in the publishing industry.

Translated titles have long been considered

the “blue chips” in China’s book market, as they are

received favorably by the public, especially if the

titles are already blockbusters back in their domestic

markets. Besides bringing rich foreign culture and

new ideas to China, translations often inspire Chinese

publishers to create titles of their own and improve

the generaly quality of their list. In short, translations

help to promote and develop the Chinese book

market.

According to Beijing OpenBook, translated titles

accounted for 20%–25% of the top 100 bestsellers in

China since 2008. Last year, the number of translated

bestsellers dropped slightly, from 28 to 21, but it went

up to 24 in the fi rst half of 2011. Generally speaking,

as Chinese publishers obtain more knowledge of

overseas markets while developing the local book

industry, the selection of translated titles has gotten

more in line with market demand, while the quality

of the translations has improved.

Translated bestsellers by country of origin

The U.S., with 29% (or 29 of the Top 100 in

the first half of 2011), remains the main source of

S22 Sept.26,2011S22

translations for China. Austria is next,

mostly due to the popularity of Thomas

Brezina’s popular Tiger-Team series for

children. Interestingly, translations from

the U.K., Japan, and Taiwan account

for roughly 13% each, or 13 titles. In

the past couple of years, titles from

Japan and Taiwan have been on the rise

because geographic proximity and shared

cultural background makes Japanese

and Taiwanese authors much easier to

promote to mainland Chinese readers.

Translated bestsellers by genreIn the f i rs t ha l f o f 2011, the

number of fiction and nonfiction among

the top 100 translated bestsellers were

even, at 23. Sales-wise, fiction and

nonfiction titles are just as close—

21.16% for fiction, and 22.31% for

nonfiction, as percentages of the total

sales of the top 100 imports. Children’s

books represent the biggest chunk of

the list with 30 titles, and 32.53% of

the total sales.

FictionMost of the fiction titles on the

bestsel ler l ist for the f irst half of

2011 are familiar to Chinese readers.

Only a few are new publ icat ions.

Haruki Murakami, who is a lready

popular for Norwegian Wood that

was published in 2010, has three

o ther books—the th ree vo lumes

o f 1Q84 —on the l i s t . The o the r

new book for this period is Gabriel

Ga r c i a Ma rque z ’s One Hund red

No. ISBN Title Price(RMB) Publisher Author

1 9787544143158 The Art of Speaking of Cai Kangyong 25 Shenyang Publishing Cai Kangyong

2 9787801706409 Happier: Learn the Secrets to 28 Modern China Publishing Tal Ben-Shahar

Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment

3 7501217890 The Greatest Salesman in 16.8 World Knowledge Press Og Mandino

the World (hardcover)

4 9787507419887 The Secret 32 China City Press Rhonda Byrne

5 9787108032911 Watch 39 Joint Publishing Long Yingtai

6 9787561345948 A Complaint Free World 24.8 Shaanxi Normal University Press Will Bowen

7 9787802444522 We All Have A Disease 36 Modern Press Zhu Deyong

8 9787501194964 Mismeasuring Our Lives: 35 Xinhua Publishing Joseph E. Stiglitz

Why GDP Doesn't Add Up

9 9787535765444 The Grand Design 48 Hunan Science & Stephen Hawking

Technology Press

10 9787506036603 A Compass to Fulfillment 26 Oriental Press Kazuo Inamori

(Revised edition)

No. ISBN Title Price(RMB) Publisher Author

1 9787544249867 1Q84: Volume 3 (hardcover) 39.5 Nanhai Publishing Haruki Murakami

2 9787544247269 1Q84: Volume 1 (hardcover) 36 Nanhai Publishing Haruki Murakami

3 9787508044019 Encounter of the Unknown Self 29 Huaxia Press De-Fen Zhang

4 9787544253994 One Hundred Years of Solitude 39.5 Nanhai Publishing Gabriel Garcia Marquez

5 9787544247252 1Q84: Volume 2 (hardcover) 36 Nanhai Publishing Haruki Murakami

6 9787020069828 The Da Vinci Code 26 People's Literature Publishing Dan Brown

7 9787020078127 The Lost Symbol 38 People's Literature Publishing Dan Brown

8 7208061645 The Kite Runner 25 People's Literature Publishing Khaled Hosseini

9 9787532742929 Norwegian Wood 23 People's Literature Publishing Haruki Murakami

10 9787544807395 Twilight: Breaking Dawn 39.8 People's Literature Publishing Stephenie Meyer

Table2:Top10translatedfictionforthefirsthalfof2011

Table3:Top10translatednonfictionforthefirsthalfof2011

S23 Sept.26,2011 S23

Years of Sol i tude , a work that is

highly regarded as a commentary

on the society and history of Latin

America. It is the first authorized

Chinese vers ion and i t does very

well in the market, which goes to

show that classics such as these do

work if translated well and marketed

properly.

NonfictionThere is more variety in translated

nonfiction, with top titles in areas such

as psychology, science. and business.

Psychology self-help titles are popular

and account for more than half of the

top 10 titles. Only three out of the top

10 are new titles .

The #1 bestseller in this genre is

The Art of Speaking of Cai Kangyong .

Cai, a popular and eloquent TV host

in Taiwan, takes full advantage of his

talent to write an entertaining yet

practical book that went straight to

the top of the chart. Another title,

We All Have a Disease , is written by

famous Taiwan cartoonist Zhu Deyong

using simple yet witty il lustrations

that have found favor with many

fans. Joseph Stiglitz’s Mismeasuring

Our Lives : Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up,

on the relationship between the GDP

and living standard, also does well.

It is obvious that nonfiction titles by

celebrities and established authors as

well as those on practical topics tend

to sell well, while classics such as

The Greatest Salesman in the World

are great reads that would carry from

one generation to the next.

Children’s booksTranslated children’s titles always

take up several slots on the top 10

chart but there were very few titles

on the list in the first half of 2011.

Bestsellers such as Totto-Chan : The

Little Girl at the Window , Charlotte’s

Web, and the new version of Thomas

Brezina’s Tiger-Team series have been

there for a long time. But it is common

knowledge that children’s titles require

a lengthy promotional period to attract

children and their parents.

This genre’s popularity, however,

means that local publishing companies

can g rab more marke t sha re by

e s t ab l i s h i ng a good r epu t a t i on

in buying and trans lat ing qual i ty

children’s titles.

Table 4: Top 10 translated children’s books for the first half of 2011

No. ISBN Title Price(RMB) Publisher Author

1 9787544250580 Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at 25 Nanhai Publishing Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

the Window (hardcover)

2 7532733416 Charlotte's Web 17 Shanghai Translation Elwyn Brooks White

Publishing

3 7544222977 Totto-Chan: The Little Girl 20 Nanhai Publishing Tetsuko Kuroyanagi

at the Window (paperback)

4 9787534259692 Der Teufels-Dampfer & 13.8 Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

Die Insel des T-Rex Children's Publishing

5 9787534259715 Im Donner-Tempel & Rätsel um 13.8 Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

das Schul-Skelett Children's Publishing

6 9787534259647 Lichter im Hexenmoor & Das 13.8 Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

Geheimbuch für Gespenster Jäger Children's Publishing

7 9787534259678 Das Geisterflugzeug & Das Amulett 13.8 Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

des AuBerirdischen Children's Publishing

8 9787534259739 Unsichtbare Ungeheuer & 13.8 Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

Die Suche nach dem Teufelsfisch Children's Publishing

9 9787534259722 Der Alptraum-Helikopter & 13.8 Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

Der entführte Pharao Children's Publishing

10 9787534259746 Der Fluch des Pharaosr & Zhejiang Juvenile & Thomas Brezina

Das Geheimnis der grünen Kanister 13.8 Children's Publishing

S24 Sept.26,2011S24

Spearheaded and funded by the

General Administration of Press and

Publication (GAPP), Chinese Classics

International Publishing Project is

aimed at encouraging and supporting

the publication of export-oriented titles,

and pushing Chinese publishers to go

international. China Publishers sat down

with Gui Xiaofeng, deputy director of

the Project’s expert committee to get

the latest news on this special initiative.

W h e n t h e p r o j e c t w a s

launched in October 2009, the

response from the publishing

industry was been overwhelmingly

positive. Are you seeing the same

kind of response for this year’s

project?

China Redactological Society is

mainly responsible for receiving Project

proposals from publishing houses,

Chinese Classics International Publishing Project: Introducing the Best Books to Overseas Readers

doing initial review and organizing

expert evaluation. As of May 5, the

expert committee has received 297

project proposals. These came from

109 publishing houses, 27 of which

are based in Beijing. Last year, 116

publishing houses submitted a total of

328 titles. Based on my observation,

the quality of titles proposed for the

project has improved significantly. We

use the strict guidelines set out by the

project—covering content, range of

topics, reputation of publishing house,

and so on—to review and select titles

for the expert committee.

This project only funds books.

What are the main criteria for book

selection?

The project guidelines specify that

books will go in either the Chinese

Academic Classics series or the Chinese

Literary Classics series. The Academic

Classics series is further divided into

philosophy, political law, economy,

military, history, language, literature

and ar t , and genera l works . The

Literary Classics series, on the other

hand, covers poetry, the novel, drama,

essays and anthologies. Proposals that

do not fall into any of the subdivisions

are automatically disqualified. The

guidelines also indicate that proposed

t i t l e s m u s t b e t a r g e t e d a t t h e

international market with plans for

rights sales and co-publishing. Accepted

proposals must then be published by

the end of a specified calendar year.

What does this year’s crop of

titles look like?

Our selection process turned up

244 titles—183 academic titles and

61 literary works—from a total of 297

Reported by Lu Jing

Gui Xiaofeng, born in Kunming in 1944, graduated from the Chinese Department of

Shanghai Fudan University. Currently, he is the president of China Redactological Society

and Vice President of the Publishers Association of China. He was former Vice Director

of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). In recent years, Gui has

committed himself to research on Chinese culture and was recently served in teaching posts

at a number of universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nanjing

University, Fudan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is

deputy director of the expert committee of the Chinese Classics International Publishing

Project under the auspices of the GAPP.

Gui Xiaofeng

S25 Sept.26,2011 S25

proposed titles. A total of 94 publishing

houses are represented in this year’s

project. Overall, this is a slight decline

from last year's project, in which there

were 280 titles from 103 publishing

houses. This year, 141 titles, or 57.8%

of the se lec ted tota l , have been

recommended for funding, whereas last

year, the numbers were 147 titles, or

52.5%, respectively.

At the end, the project decided

to fund 47 titles, or only 33.3% of

those recommended by the expert

committee. Last year, 67.3% of the

titles recommended were funded.

Out of these 47 t i t les, 41 are

classified under Academic Classics series.

There are five philosophy titles, nine

historical titles, four in political law, six for

economics, four for literature and art, and

13 general works. The remaining six titles

are classified under Literary Classics, and

these are all novels.

The evaluat ion process is

mostly focused on quality, right?

What other principles are at work

here?

We are required to choose titles

that reflect Chinese culture, represent

China and its cultural image, and are

projected to attract foreign readers.

In order to meet these standards, we

have 24 experts in a committee that

is further divided into four different

groups: two Social Science groups

(Group A and Group B), Literature, and

General. Group A reviews mostly titles

on philosophy, history, language, other

social sciences and general natural

science. Group B is responsible for

titles on political law, economy, culture,

education and sports. Literature Group

reviews classical titles, contemporary

works, art theory, and selected general

titles. The last group, General Group,

is made up of experts in publishing,

copyright, publicity, and translation,

and they evaluate the 244 titles based

on their specialty before offering their

recommendation to the other three

groups. Al l 24 experts pay special

attention to various aspects, such as

content quality, potential for export,

author’s academic status, and book

design.

Could you tell us how the basic

process of the review work?

The first step is the group review.

Each group reviews the materials

and has a d iscuss ion about what

has a good chance to make the final

list. Suggestions, including funding

suggestions, are proposed for each

project that i s recommended for

financial support and submission the

the Excpert Committee. Specialists from

each group also have to review other

groups’ projects to prepare for the final

voting.

Then comes the second step.

The person in charge of every group

reports to the committee about the

works under review, complete with

the list of suggestions and some of the

problems that emerge. After discussion

by the whole committee, the final list

is formally submitted to the committee

and voted on by secret ballot.

Therefore the experts play a

huge role.

The r e v i ew p ro ce s s i s d eep

and very specific. There are many

meetings, and written evaluations

to consider and discuss, including

obse r va t i on s on t ho se p ro j e c t s

that are recommended for funding,

wh i ch l ay s a sol id foundation for Type for Chinese characters carved from wood, on display at Frankfurt.

S26 Sept.26,2011S26

committee’s final vote. The General

G r o u p a l s o c o n t r i b u t e s a l o t ,

particularly with its invited experts

from the Copyright Value Evaluation

Project Office of Protection Center

of China (CPCC). These specialists

analyze the copyright issues for each

project. What’s more, the person in

charge of every group undertakes

elaborate preparations—writing the

report outline in advance, hosting

preliminary discussions, that lead

up to the meeting. Final ly, every

expert gives a thoughtful vote after

much consideration. As I have said,

the passing rate was lower this year

than last , a resu l t I th ink of the

rigorous standards and the healthy

airing of different opinions.

Previous t i t les under this

project have been introduced to

20 countries and translated into

14 languages. What is the plan for

this year’s titles?

We are planning to export these

titles to 22 countries across Europe,

As ia, and the Oceania. The t i t les

would then be trans lated into 14

languages, including English, German,

and Spanish.

T h e r e h a s b e e n o n e m a j o r

change recently: previously, most

of the titles were translated into no

more than two different languages,

but those selected in 2010 that have

now been translated are available in

multiple languages. The Love under

the Hawthorn Tree from People ’s

L i te ra ture Pub l i sh ing House, fo r

instance, has been exported to 11

countries and is now available in nine

languages. Another title, History of the

Communist Party in China: 1921–2011 ,

from Foreign Language Press, wi l l

be co-published in seven language

editions.

T h e p r o j e c t h a s b e e n

instrumental in promoting cultural

exchanges and copublishing efforts

between China and other countries.

Any particular aspect of the Project

that you think should be changed

or improved?

T h i s p r o j e c t h a s d e f i n i t e l y

increased the influence of Chinese

culture on the world stage. It fosters

stronger cultural exchanges and better

bilateral ties with foreign countries.

The experts for this project all agree

that the selected titles must not only

be authoritative and broad in scope but

also help overseas readers understand

the real China. For instance, the author

of From Chang’an to Rome actually

traveled the whole length of the Silk

Road to assess i t s impact on the

trading route and its role in spreading

various cultures. It is an exhaustively

research title that combines personal

experience and up-to-date research.

There are certainly areas about

the project that can be improved.

For instance, we can broaden the

selection scope, contract publishers to

work on specific titles, introduce more

contemporary literary works, and so

on. Nothing is perfect, after all. As the

project matures, we can expect it to

evolve according to market needs and

industry changes. Some titles that have been selected in the Project.

S27 Sept.26,2011 S27

Held at the National Center for the

Performing Arts on August 30, the Fifth

Special Book Award of China was the

culmination of an effort that took two

years of review and evaluation. Five

individuals who have contributed to the

promotion of Chinese culture abroad

were selected for the award.

The honors went to S tephen

Bourne, CEO of Cambridge University

Press; John Naisbitt, author/futurist

and one of Accenture ’s 50 global

Special Book Award for Outstanding Overseas Friends

management masters; B.R. Deepak,

t rans la to r and v i ce -pro fessor a t

Jawaharlal Nehru University; Lizuka

Yutori, translator and professor at

Chuo University in Japan; and Kristofer

Schipper, sinologist and professor at

Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The 2011 award winnersThe five winners may come from

different parts of the world but they

all have the same goal: to help spread

Chinese culture, and that was duly

honored.

Stephen Bourne, for instance,

establ ished the Cambridge China

Library (CCL) in 2009 to translate and

publish Chinese classics into English

in order to promote literary exchanges

and d iscuss ion between Ch inese

and Western readers. He set up a

special editorial team of experts from

China, the U.S., and Europe to select

and recommend Chinese works for

Reported by Lu Jing

The Fifth Special Book Award ceremony was held at the National Center on August 30. Party official and State Councilor Liu Yandong (center) and Director of General Administration of Press and Publication Liu Binjie (on her left) presented the awards to the winners.

S28 Sept.26,2011S28

t rans lat ion. Among

the projects selected

a r e t h e C u l t u r a l

C h i n a s e r i e s ( 3 0

volumes, from China

International Press),

A History of Chinese

Civi l izat ion (four volumes, Peking

University Press), and Introductory

Theory of Advanced Mathematics (four

volumes, Higher Education Press). So

far, 10 volumes in the Cultural China

series have been published, and the

English edition of A History of Chinese

Civ i l izat ion wi l l be avai lable next

January. More titles will be selected for

CCL in the coming

months.

J o h n N a i s b i t t

w h o s e n a m e h a s

long been familiar to

Chinese readers, wrote

China’s Megatrends in

2009. He and his wife have just released

their latest title, China’s Megatrends: The

Chengdu Model , at the 18th Beijing

International Book Fair, which ran from

August 31 to September 4, 2011.

As for the other three winners, they

are fluent in Chinese and have devoted

themselves to the study of Chinese

literature. Sinologist B.R. Deepak has

been involved in the study, research,

and development of Chinese literature

and culture as well as on the relations

between China and India since the

1980s. He has written six monographs,

compiled two dictionaries and written

numerous research articles. Perhaps his

most remarkable work is the first-of-

its-kind translation of Chinese Classical

Poems from the 11th to 14th centuries.

Available in Hindi, this book showcases

the beauty of Chinese poetry and

cultural heritage. “Both China and India

are countries with long histories and old

civilizations, and I feel so deeply that

Chinese culture has not been spread

enough, and it’s essential that more

people learn about China,” said Deepak

at the news conference of for the

Special Book Award.

D e e p a k h a s

a lso t rans lated the

works of J i X ianl in,

China's famous writer,

l i ngu i s t , educa to r,

translator, essayist,

and social activist, who

is proficient in 12 languages himself.

Deepak kept in close contact with Ji

during his study at Peking University

and thought that Ji's work deserved to

be translated for the India market.

Deepak is aided by his Chinese

wife, from Beijing, who he says helped

him considerably in his translation work.

L izuka Yutor i who is the f i rst

Japanese w inner spec ia l i z i ng in

translating of contemporary Chinese

authors and research done on modern

Chinese literature in Japanese. Modern

Chinese Novel , a quarterly publication

for which he serves as editor-in-chief,

publ ishes works by contemporary

Chinese authors in Japanese. More than

300 works from about 130 writers have

been made available, including writings

by Yu Hua, Tie Ning, Wang Anyi, and

Shi Tiesheng. Yutori also has written

numerous research papers on modern

Chinese culture and art.

According to Yutori, there is very

little active translation of Chinese going

on in Japan, only a few university

p ro fessors and researchers who

translate works that

they are interested

in on their own time.

Therefore it’s not easy

for Chinese works to

be translated in Japan.

“Translation is lonely

work with little pay and less gain. I’m

just one of those who is devoted to it.”

Kr is tofer Schipper, prof ic ient

in eight languages and famous for

pub l i sh ing The Tao i s t Body and

translating philosophers Zhuangzi and

Lao Tsu (author of Tao

Te Ching ) into Dutch,

established the Global

Civilization Research

Center and Library of

the Western Belvedere

at Fuzhou University

in 2001. (This particular contribution

has also earned him the Friendship

Award from the state government.)

In 2009, the nearly 80 -year-old

Schipper took the translation work

of Five Canons —a large international

sinology cooperation project organized

by China's national leading group office

Stephen Bourne

John Naisbitt

B.R. Deepak

Lizuka Yutori

Kristofer Schipper

S29 Sept.26,2011 S29

for promoting Chinese. Now Schipper

t rave ls of ten between China and

Netherlands, playing an important role

in the cultural exchanges between the

two countries.

Future plans for the Special Book Award

E s t a b l i s h ed b y t h e Gene ra l

Administration of Press and Publication

(GAPP) in 2005, the Special Book

Award is an important part of the

central government’s drive to promote

cultural exchanges between China and

other nations. Its main objective is to

recognize foreign writers, translators,

and publishers who have contributed to

the promotion of Chinese culture and

the dissemination of Chinese works in

overseas markets. It has been awarded

every other year during the Beijing

International Book Fair.

To date, the award has been given

to 22 people from eight countries.

The winners include Howard Goldblatt

(translator of Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem

and A-lai’s Dust Falling Down ) and

Robert Lawrence Kuhn (author of How

China’s Leaders Think: The Inside Story

of China’s Reform and What This Means

for the Future ). These award winners

play an important role in promoting

bilateral understanding, respect, and

development.

Meanwhile, plans are afoot to

improve the award’s selection and

eva luat ion process . As has been

reported from the news conference

for the recent award-giving ceremony,

the focus is now on recognizing more

diversified works from different fields as

well as on improving the evaluation and

selection process.

This year ’s award review and

evaluation process was also carried

out much earlier than usual. In fact,

the department sent out letters to

various embassies last December in

order to provide ample time for proper

recommendations of award candidates.

Guidelines on selection of sinologists,

authors, translators, and publishers who

have made outstanding achievements

in writing, publishing, or translating

excellent works from China were also

provided.

The whole evaluation process

is also becoming more transparent,

objective, and fair. GAPP’s international

commun ica t ion and coopera t ion

department wrote to some embassies

a s k i n g f o r n a m e s o f p o t e n t i a l

candidates. The embassies promptly

responded with names of several

writers and translators. It was as a

result of the new efforts to recognize

important contributors from different

fields, that three more names—John

Naisbitt, Stephen Bourne and Richard

Levin (president of Yale University)—

were added to the candidate list. The

department then collected works by

these candidates and bound them

into volumes for expert review and

evaluation. The winners were duly

selected.

Effective this year, the Special

Book Award will become an annual

event with RMB50,000 prize money

for each winner. These major changes

fully reflect the Chinese government's

determination to encourage more

contributions from overseas friends

while bringing the award in line with

other international prizes of similar

nature. GAPP is ramping up its efforts in

acknowledging—and rewarding—those

who are actively engaged in promoting

cultural exchanges between China and

other countries, and spreading Chinese

culture throughout the world by making

important works available in different

languages.

Titles from the Museums from Cultural China series, t h e H i s t o r y o f C h i n e s e Civilization, and the Theory of Advanced Mathematics series.

S30 Sept.26,2011S30

I n r e c e n t y e a r s , v a r i o u s

government initiatives and programs

have been established to promote

Ch inese cu l tu re abroad wh i le a t

the same time introducing Chinese

r e a d e r s t o d i f f e r e n t c u l t u r e s

and new works f rom around the

wor ld. In 2009, for instance, the

Genera l Admin i s t ra t ion o f P ress

and Publ icat ion (GAPP) launched

the Chinese Classics International

P u b l i s h i n g P r o j e c t t o p r o m o t e

translations and publications of works

that focus on modern China. A year

later, GAPP started a Sino-Foreign

Translation and Publishing Project

to promote literary exchanges and

publishing cooperation with overseas

partners.

The objective of this new project is

to translate the most important works

from China—including literature and

research in any field—and to select

outstanding works from overseas for

Sino-Foreign Translation and Publishing Project: Promoting CulturalExchanges and Collaboration

translation into simplified Chinese for

the domestic market. So far, China has

signed memorandums of cooperation

with the Arab League and Cuba.

Constructing a modern “Silk Road”

In May 2010, a memorandum

of understanding on the China-Arab

Translation and Publishing Project

was signed by the GAPP and the Arab

League. With this, selected Chinese

history books and outstanding modern

literary works will be published and

distributed within the Arab League’s 22

countries, effectively rebuilding a newer

and modern Silk Road based on cultural

exchanges.

Statistics show that China has

translated and published 669 titles, of

which 565 are literary works, from the

Arab League countries between 2001 and

2010. These titles include The Arabian

Nights , the complete works of Lebanese-

American author Khalil Gibran, and The

Cairo Trilogy by 1988 Nobel Prize winner

Naguib Mahfouz. Clearly, Arabic literature

has already been promoted and read in

China for many years.

Likewise, The Analects of Confucius

was translated into Arabic back in the

1930s. Translations of other ancient

Chinese classics soon followed. Today,

The Book of Changes (or I-Ching ),

Tao Te Ching , Intrigues of the Warring

States , and The Art of War are available

in Arabic. The same applies to the

four great classical novels of Chinese

literature: Dream of the Red Chamber ,

Water Margin , Romance of the Three

Kingdoms, and Journey to the West .

Meanwhile, contemporary Chinese

works by authors such as Lu Xun and

Lao She are gaining popularity among

Arabic readers.

At the Cairo International Book

Fair in January 2011, director of the

GAPP, Liu Binjie, said, “Both China and

Reported by Lu Jing

Chinese translations of some famous Arabian works, along with some Chinese classics translated into Arabic.

S31 Sept.26,2011 S31

Arab nations have very rich cultural

her i tages, and both part ies have

mutually agreed to further deepen

and strengthen our cultural exchanges

and collaboration. This process would

require us to build a bridge, or a link,

between the two cultures. Literary

translation and publishing, I believe, is

the key to unlock both parties’ cultural

treasures and make them available

to readers in China and in the Middle

East. We will then be able to share

knowledge and research in social,

intellectual, scientific, and economic

fields.”

According to the memorandum,

both parties will focus on translating

classics and contemporary Chinese

literature as well as children’s titles.

Over the next five years, both parties

will translate and publish 25 titles

each.

Grants will be given to publishing

houses that will translate and publish

the se lec ted t i t l es . Both par t ies

have also agreed to set up expert

committees—with each made up of five

professionals chosen from government

agencies, publ ishing houses, and

academic institutions—to spearhead the

project. These experts will evaluate the

publishing houses that will handle the

translation and publishing, determine

work schedule and budgets, supervise

the process, submit progress reports,

and so on.

The memorandum also specifies

that People’s Publishing House will be

the committee’s office in China. Algeria-

based Arab Higher Translation Research

Institute will be the other committee

office. Meetings will be held annually

to check on the progress o f th i s

collaboration.

China-Iran and China-Cuba agreements

T h i s y e a r m a r k s t h e 4 0 t h

anniversary of China’s diplomatic

relat ions with Iran. Several GAPP

programs have been carried out to

promote more publishing projects with

Iranian publishers. GAPP also organized

several publishing houses to actively

participate at the 2011 Tehran Book

Fair. Then, in May 2011, GAPP signed

a memorandum of understanding on

China-Iran Translation and Publishing

Project to introduce more works to

readers of both countries. This being

the second project under the Sino-

Foreign Translation and Publishing

p r o g ra m , i t c o n t a i n s t h e s a m e

objectives and processes as those in

the China-Arab agreement.

Several months later, on July 13,

Jiang Jianguo, vice-director of the GAPP

signed a publishing memorandum with

Cuba’s Book Committee during his visit

to that country. This is China’s first

collaboration with a Latin American

country on publishing matters.

According to this memorandum,

publishers from China and Cuba will

attend each country’s international book

fairs to facilitate cultural exchanges.

The Ch ina-Cuba Trans la t ion and

Publishing Project will kick-start with

both sides recommending titles for

translation and publication, setting up

grants to support translation activities,

distributing classic works of Chinese and

Cuban literature, and encouraging their

publishing houses to increase copyright

cooperation. The list of recommended

books will be made available in the first

quarter of 2012 ,and both countries will

translate and publish five books each

starting from 2013.

On the whole, the Sino-Foreign

Translation and Publishing Project will

further promote cultural exchanges and

collaboration between China and its

overseas partners. It is certainly a big

step forward in realizing China’s “going-

out” policy.

S32 Sept.26,2011S32

The year 2012 marks the 40th

anniversary of diplomatic relations

between China and the U.K. It is also

the year Beijing passes the baton of the

Olympics to the city of London. So the

choice of China as the market focus for

the 2012 London Book Fair seems most

appropriate and natural. For China, it

will be a great opportunity to showcase

its culture and literature—i.e., its soft

power—to fa ir attendees and the

publishing community from near and

far.

The London Book Fair Market

Focus i n i t i a t i ve i s an impor tan t

chance for U.K. and international

pub l i shers to communica te w i th

their foreign counterparts, and seek

out and capitalize on new business

pa r tne r sh ips . The Ch ina Marke t

Focus and the associated cultural

Market Focus for the 2012 London Book Fair: China

program wil l place a spotl ight on

c on t empo ra r y Ch i n e s e a u t ho r s

and on China as an important and

growing publishing arena.

The ma r ke t f o cu s p r og ram ,

which wi l l be held in conjunct ion

with the GAPP, is run by the London

International Book Fair, along with the

British Council, and will be supported

with a series of cultural events as

well.

The China Market Focus cultural

program at the 2012 London Book

Fa i r w i l l beg in w i t h a handove r

ceremony from the outgoing Market

Focus country, Russia. A series of

cultural events will then take place

unti l the end of 2012. During this

pe r i od , t he spo t l i gh t w i l l be on

contemporary Chinese authors, and

China as an important player in the

global publishing

industry.

The opening

ceremony is one of

the most important

official events for

the Market Focus

c o u n t r y. I t w i l l

b e a t t e nde d b y

Chinese and British

pol i t ica l f igures,

r ep re sen ta t i ve s

f r o m m a j o r

publishers of the

two countries, and more than 600

members of the media from around

the world. China will hold a variety of

colorful events to put on display the

beauty of traditional Chinese culture

and literature.

During the Market Focus period,

the London Book Fair will schedule

a se r i e s o f h igh - l eve l d i a logues

t o fu r the r p romote coope ra t i on

between China and the U.K., and

enhance understanding on various

top i c s i n c lud ing the connec t i on

between publishing activit ies and

the economy; the current state of

the arts, music, and entertainment

i ndus t r i e s , and the p rog res s o f

d i g i t i z a t i o n i n t h e p u b l i s h i n g

industry, as well as the copyright

protect ion and Chinese language

t e a c h i n g a n d l e a r n i n g . T h e s e

d i a l ogues a re mean t t o exp lo re

areas beneficial to both countries

and the publishing world at large.

More than 30 cultural activities will

be held including Sino-U.K. language

education publishing forum, including a

discussion about children's illustrators,

a seminar on purchasing rights to

Ch inese t i t les , and so on. These

activities will provide Chinese publishers

with opportunities to communicate,

cooperate, and interact with publishers

f rom a l l ove r t he wo r l d , and t o

further increase their presence in the

Reported by Lu Jing Translated by Yang Guishan

China-UK Literature in Translation Forum, sponsored by the General Administration of Press and Publication and the British Council, will be part of the opening activities for the 2012 London Book Fair.

S33 Sept.26,2011 S33

international book market.

Im p r o v i n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n s

between Chinese writers and Western

scholars is an important aspect of the

Market Focus program as well. The

introduction of contemporary Chinese

wr i ters and outstand ing Chinese

literary works to mainstream Western

society wi l l be a br idge spanning

two different worlds of culture and

literature.

More than 50 Chinese writers,

l i terary cr i t i cs , and scho lars wi l l

participate in various activit ies to

p romote Ch inese l i t e ra tu re and

culture. These events will take place

just before the Book Fair and will

carry on until the end of the year.

D i a l o gue s and pane l s i n c ud i ng

Chinese and British writers, scholars,

and l i terary cr i t ics, together with

author readings, will touch on various

fields, including literature, philosophy,

technology, and economy.

After the Book Fair, there will be

continuing activities around Great

Britain, such as the Wales Literature

& Art Fest iva l , the Edinburgh Art

Festival, and Thames Art Festival

( b a c k i n L o n d o n ) . T h e s e w i l l

significantly broaden the exposure

of Chinese literature to the British

people.

O n e o f t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t

segments of the Market Focus program

is the translation, publication, and

promot ion of the focus country ’s

most important literary works. This

time, various events will be carried

out to showcase Chinese authors and

works that have been selected, and

promoted, for the international market.

At the same time, bricks-and-mortar

bookstores and online book retailers

in the U.K. will also come together

to promote these selected works and

authors to the public.

Dur ing the year, the London

Book Fair organizing committee will

coordinate a series of cultural and arts

exhibitions that throw the spotlight

on China’s long civilization and literary

tradi t ion. These wi l l cover movie

screenings, photo exhibits (on Chinese

arch i tecture and typ ica l Ch inese

families), Chinese philatelic shows,

and many others. These are aimed at

promoting a better understanding of

China, its people and culture in the U.K.

and Europe.

Market Focus for the 2012 London Book Fair: China

S34 Sept.26,2011S34