The 18th Beijing International Book Fair lowered its curtain on September 4th. A total of 2,953 copyright trade agreements were signed between China and foreign countries (+574 y-o-y) [see post "Copyright export breakthrough on 17th Beijing International Book Fair"]. Among them, 1,412 copyrights were sold or sought cooperation with foreign publishers, a 17 percent rise [...]
Archive for the ‘books’ category
Roads of China’s digital publishing export
06/09/2011During the Beijing International Book Fair, journalists of China Press and Publishing Journal interviewed participants about their viewpoints and experiences concerning “go out”. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP): new content channels and technology for overseas markets. To make its products more suitable for overseas markets, FLTRP has adapted content to different media formats [...]
China’s publishing industry: “going out” success factors
05/09/2011According to the 2011 Press and Publication Industry Report released recently, China’s “deficit” in copyright trade is narrowing [see post "China’s copyright trade improving"], and the “go out” strategy of Chinese publications has made excellent progress. Major reasons are: Focus on both domestic and foreign markets At present, China’s publishing companies participate in book fairs [...]
Factors influencing China’s book import & export
02/09/2011In 2010, the export of all kinds of publications continued to increase, but an unfavorable balance of trade still exists. However, due to the following factors, the negative balance between import and export in the book market is gradually reduced: Book export channels and paths are more diversified and books on learning Chinese are very [...]
Beijing International Book Fair: Opinions on China’s book market potential
02/09/2011Attendees give their opinion on what’s selling in China’s book market in Publishers Weekly ‘s article “Beijing 2011: The Potential of China’s Book Market“. Also see this previous post: 18th Beijing International Book Fair opened
The winners of the 5th “Special Book Award of China”
01/09/2011The award ceremony for the 5th “Special Book Award of China” was held in Beijing’s National Grand Theater on August 30. Liu Yandong, member of the state council, gave prize to five persons who made outstanding contributions to introducing China’s culture abroard and by translating & publishing Chinese works. They are Kristofer Schipper (Professor at [...]
18th Beijing International Book Fair opened (China)
31/08/2011The 18th Beijing International Book Fair opened at the China International Exhibition Center with a total exhibition area of 53,600 m2. As the guest of honor, Netherland has an exhibition area of 1,500 m2. The digital publishing section covering 10,000 m2 is a highlight of this fair, and digital reading terminal products as well as [...]
China’s copyright trade improving
31/08/2011In recent years, the ratio between copyright import & export has gradually been reduced. According to the “2010 Analysis Report on the News and Publishing Industry”, the proportion of copyright export to copyright import was 1:2.9 in 2010, down from 1:3.3 a year earlier. During last year’s Beijing International Book Fair, a total of 2379 [...]
Mao Dun Literature Prize – a writer-official reward? (China)
30/08/2011The article “2011 Mao Dun Literature Prize: Recognizing Fine Literature or Rewarding Writer-Officials?” in Paper Republic’s newsletter provides more detail concerning the underlying controversy. Also see previous post: 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize in China: List of the five winners
China: Market analysis of imported books
30/08/2011Imported books still occupy an important position in China’s book market in the first half year of 2011. Economics & management Affected by the financial crisis, the proportion of imported bestsellers in the economy & management book market decreases gradually. But books on personal finance management and economical theory are popular, such as “Rich Dad, [...]
Fewer pupils: Anhui New Media textbook sales down, books up (China)
30/08/2011In the first half of 2011, Anhui New Media generated 1.32 billion RMB revenue. Book sales accounted for 610 million RMB, 29.5% more than last year, and textbooks for 516 million RMB, -4.7% y-o-y. With fewer primary school students, textbook revenue will continue to fall. Source: Anhui New Media got 1.32 billion RMB revenue at [...]
China’s Top Ten imported economics and management bestseller books
29/08/2011China Publishing Today‘s article “Analysis of the Imported Books Market in the First Half Year of 2011” (in Chinese) provides the following list of Top Ten imported economics and management bestsellers in China (links to amazon.com added by me): Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and Jean-Paul [...]
“China’s International Book Promotion Plan”: volume to double
29/08/2011According to numbers presented at a press conference for the “China’s International Book Promotion Plan”, since 2006 China has signed publishing agreements with 351 publishing companies from 56 countries and 351 regions and published 1609 kinds of books in 34 languages. In order to intensify the “going out” of Chinese publications and culture, plan participants [...]
English guide to literary events at 2011 Beijing International Book Fair
29/08/2011Once again, Bruce Humes has gone through the trouble of creating an English-language list of literary events at a major publishing exhibition in China, in this case the Beijing International Book Fair.
8th Mao Dun Literature Prize in China: List of the five winners
26/08/2011On August 20th, the list of the 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize winners was released [also see "Mao Dun Literature Prize: China’s publishing houses cautious about reprinting award winners"]. The prize goes to 5 works (Update: In parentheses I’ve added the English titles as provided by Paper Republic – as professional translators, they’re more qualified [...]
Mao Dun Literature Prize: China’s publishing houses cautious about reprinting award winners
25/08/2011Although bestsellers like Bi Feiyu’s “Massage” and Mo Yan’s “Frog” were awarded the Mao Dun Literature Prize, most publishing houses said they will decide whether to reprint these prize winners according to the market situation. Pan Kaixiong, the president of People’s Literature Publishing House, said “If readers have a new demand for “Massage”, we will [...]
Mobile phones in China – competition for e-readers
25/08/2011More and more readers in China choose mobile phones as their device for e-reading [note: causing headaches for Hanvon and others, see post "E-readers in China encountering bottlenecks"], while authors and publishing houses try to cooperate with “mobile reading base” providers. China Mobile Reading Base: paying great attention to content quality Zhong Tianhua, Board Chairman [...]
“Urgent Notice” on publishing and distribution of teaching materials issued by China’s GAPP
22/08/2011Focusing on the excessive number and low quality of primary and secondary school supplementary teaching materials, GAPP released the “Notice on Further Enhancing the Management of Primary and Secondary School Supplementary Teaching Publications” on August 17th. One day later, an “Urgent Notice” on supervision and implementation was given to localities and departments concerned, setting a [...]
Shortlist for China’s Mao Dun Literature Prize published
19/08/2011Yesterday, the shortlist of ten works for China’s prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize was released in Beijing, as reported in Guangming Daily‘s “ ‘Short Ten’ decided for Mao Dun Prize for Literature” (in Chinese). Translating literary titles is always a minefield, so all corrections are welcome. Liu Xinglong: “Skywalker”, Zhang Wei: “You in the highlands”, [...]
Guangzhou Book Festival opening today (China)
19/08/2011With the slogan “Happy reading, happy Guangdong”, this year’s Book Festival in Guangzhou will be held August 19-25. Major highlights: Larger scale: A record 27 topic areas and more than 300,000 book titles will be displayed in the exhibition. Emphasize current subjects: The book fair will highlight the CPC’s 90th anniversary and commemorate the 100th [...]
Educational book publishing in China to be better regulated
18/08/2011Focusing on the disorderly market for supplementary teaching material in education, Liu Binjie indicated during the recent 2011 National Press and Publication Bureau Secretary Forum that GAPP will make efforts to solve the problem this year with the upcoming “Notice on Further Enhancing the Management of Primary and Secondary School Supplementary Teaching Publications”. Furthermore, GAPP [...]
Events during the “Shanghai International Literary Week”
18/08/2011In response to my brief post “Shanghai Book Fair opened today”, Bruce Humes pointed out his list of events which he culled from online Chinese media and translated into English. Take a look at the posting Shanghai Aug 17-23 Event: “Shanghai International Literary Week” on his Ethnic ChinaLit blog. Thanks, Bruce, for your comment and your [...]
Shanghai Book Fair opened today
17/08/2011In its article “Books, glorious book“, Shanghai Daily provides information on the week-long Shanghai Book Fair, e.g. Ursula Scheffel’s “Kommissar Kugelblitz” (Detective Ball Lightning) for children, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio and Colm Toibin. The event is organized by the Shanghai Press and Publications Bureau. Also see previous post “What mainland China book fairs can learn [...]
Paper publications remain first choice for reading experience – but losing ground (China)
16/08/2011On August 11th, Shanghai Press and Publication Bureau issued the Report of Shanghai Citizen’s Reading Habits in the New Media Environment (2010-2011). It shows that although new technology changed people’s reading habits, paper publications are still the first choice for in-depth reading. In the survey, 75% people think paper publications provide a better reading experience, [...]
What mainland China book fairs can learn from Hong Kong and Taiwan
16/08/2011This summer, book fairs are opening continuously in Hong Kong, Taiwan as well as in Shanghai and other cities on the Chinese mainland. As a newcomer, the mainland’s book fairs can learn from those in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Suffering from birth defects While most exhibitors and visitors to mainland book fairs are domestic, book [...]
Mobile bookstore launched by Zhejiang Xinhua and China Mobile
15/08/2011On August 8th, the revised Bookuu Web and Mobile Book Store were launched under a cooperation between Zhejiang Xinhua Book Store Group and China Mobile Zhejiang Branch. On the Mobile Bookstore, Zhejiang Xinhua will offer bibliographic information, China Mobile Zhejiang Branch will offer information query and ordering services and Bookuu Web will distribute the books [...]
Baidu + Fanshu.com: new digital book market monopoly on the horizon in China?
11/08/2011Two recent events caused a wake-up call for online booksellers in China, who had felt save from the uncertain future of physical bookstores: Online bookstore Jingdong Mall supposedly paid around 10 million RMB for exclusive debut rights to Annie Baobei‘s new novel. [As mentioned on her blog, "Spring Feast" -my translation of 春宴- was available [...]
How 3 publication distribution groups in China adjust to new challenges
11/08/20112011 is the first year of the 12th Five-year Plan, so development of the press and publication distribution industry this year will profoundly effect the future. Some of the reactions to the many challenges distribution groups are facing were mentioned in interviews of China Press and Publication Journal: Strategy adjustments in the face of bigger [...]
Shanghai Book Fair moved to the third week of August (China)
10/08/2011Beginning this year, the annual Shanghai Book Fair will cooperate with Chinese All and the exhibition time is moved to the third week of August each year. In 2011, the Shanghai Book Fair cum “Chinese All” Shanghai Week will be held on the theme of “I love reading, I love life” and promote national reading [...]
GAPP’s “Three One-hundred” Original Books campaign to support original publishing (China)
08/08/2011GAPP launched the 3rd “Three One-hundred” Original Books Recommendation Campaign during which 100 works written by Chinese authors and published by Chinese publishing houses in 2008-2010 will be chosen in each of the areas social sciences, natural sciences and art /childrens books. The goal of this campaign is to foster original publishing. Source: “Three One-hundred” [...]
Digital media in education: “e-schoolbag” project extended in China
04/08/2011On July 27th, the Municipal Education Commission, Municipal Press and Publication Bureau and Hongkou District government in Shanghai signed the Strategic Cooperation Agreement on Promoting a Digital Learning Environment to promote the “e-schoolbag” project in Shanghai’s Hongkou District. In the first half of this year, eight schools in the district have successfully conducted the pilot [...]
Analysis of China’s supplementary teaching material market: Problems and solutions
03/08/2011As briefly mentioned in previous posts (see “Publishing and distribution of educational publications in China – fighting piracy and corruption“), China’s supplementary teaching material market is rife with problems. This article by the Private Book Industry Development Research Center of the Press and Publication Research Institute spotlights problems and solutions. Problems: Compared with the situation in [...]
Online bookstores in China: An effective supplement to traditional sales of publishing houses?
03/08/2011More and more publishing houses in China have opened online bookstores, with two major models apparent: Big Mart Model As an example, China Machine Press established its online bookstore “Golden Book Net” five years ago. Like a mart, the online bookstore has all kinds of books, however, it can’t provide discounts as low as offered [...]
Half of China’s private bookstores closed down in the past decade
02/08/2011As stated in China Publishing Today’s article “On the spreading bookstore crisis” (in Chinese), “according to China Federation of Industry’s Book Industry Association survey, almost half of private bookstores have closed down in the past 10 years, this trend is accelerating.” A major reason are online bookstores. Also see these previous posts: GAPP to support [...]
Author sues publishing house for “fake book” (China)
02/08/2011Recently, authoress Yang Lan sued the Publishing House of Beijing University of Technology and an author for attributing her as the writer of a book without authorization, requesting 600,000 RMB in compensation and an apology. Yang Lan is not the only celebrity that suffered from a “fake book”, meaning that an author’s identity was stolen [...]
GAPP to support physical bookstores in China
02/08/2011Recently, GAPP provided answers on the hot topic of how to support the development of physical bookstores. Will all physical bookstores that experience difficulty with management receive support? Liu Binjie, Director of GAPP, said that GAPP will take the following policy measures to support special and academic bookstores. Implement the “Notice on Strengthening the Rural [...]
Reform of China’s news and publishing industry: more hard work and central guidance needed
02/08/2011China’s system reform of its news and publishing industry was at the center of attention at the recently held 2011 National Press and Publication Bureau Secretary Forum [Note: a conference of heads of province and city Administrations of Press and Publication]. Three “key phrases” illustrate the current situation: Key Phrase One: Deepening the system reform [...]
Publication point of sales to be part of infrastructure planning in China
01/08/2011The “Notice on Strengthening the Rural and Urban Publication Distribution Networks” was recently published by GAPP, the Central Publicity Department and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Since demolishing bookstores during urban and rural development has often made it difficult for people to buy books and newspaper, the Notice makes building distribution networks in [...]
East Europe: a new market opportunity for the “going out” of Chinese publishing houses?
28/07/2011Last month, Time Publishing and Media Co. – belonging to Anhui Publishing Group – signed an agreement with Marszalek Publishing, becoming the first Chinese publishing house to enter the Polish market. The group intends to establish a network which covers the whole East European market in the future. As a non-mainstream market, Eastern Europe offers differentiation [...]
First bonded warehouse for publications established in China
26/07/2011On July 19th, China’s first bonded warehouse for imported publications was founded by China Publication Import and Export Group. It constitutes a new mechanism for the timely provision of publications needed by domestic users and will raise the efficiency of executing orders and facilitate foreign publishing houses’ expansion into the Chinese market. Furthermore, the bonded [...]
China’s Top Ten publishing houses, newspaper, printing and distribution groups
25/07/2011The “2010 Analysis Report of the News and Publishing Industry” includes several Top Ten lists, with the ranking based on total output, value added, total assets, equity (net assets), revenue and gross profit. China’s Top Ten publishing groups: Phoenix Publishing & Media Group Co., Ltd., Jiangsu, Hunan Publishing Investment Holding Group, Zhejiang Publishing United Group [...]
Review for China Precious Ancient Books List started
25/07/2011On July 18th, the review for the 4th edition of the China Precious Ancient Books List and the National Key Unit for Ancient Book Protection started. This year, experts need to review 9,665 ancient books – most of which are damaged – and 24 units applying for the status of National Key Unit for Ancient [...]
A new scientific publishing “aircraft carrier”: China Science and Technology Media Group
25/07/2011On July 19th, China Science and Technology Media Group Co.,Ltd. and its subsidiary China Science and Technology Media Corp. were established. Previously, China Publishing Group and China Education Media Group had been set up as national “aircraft carriers” (=national champions). China Science and Technology Media Group will integrate scientific publishing resources of the Chinese Academy [...]
Criticism of Xinhua Dictionary’s new edition: more popular doesn’t mean better (China)
22/07/2011Xinhua Dictionary launched its latest edition two weeks ago [see post "New edition of Xinhua Dictionary on sale"], with over 13,000 single-character entries of which 800 were newly added. As an important tool, it is reasonable to keep up with the times, but this doesn’t mean “the more popular, the better”. First, Xinhua Dictionary should [...]
China’s “2010 Analysis Report of the News and Publishing Industry” released: Digital publishing profit up 40%
21/07/2011GAPP released the ”2010 Analysis Report of the News and Publishing Industry” on the opening day of the National Press and Publication Bureau Secretary Forum yesterday. The report states that overall, the industry showed fast, stable and healthy development momentum, with printing and reproduction still the mainstay (817 billion RMB total output). Industry-wide data: Total output: 1269 [...]
Hong Kong Book Fair (Jul 21-25): Daily Updates from Ethnic ChinaLit
21/07/2011Bruce Humes provides daily updates on the Hong Kong Book Fair in his Ethnic ChinaLit blog. Read more on last year’s event: Hong Kong Book Fair attracted 920,000 visitors; new sales record New at Hong Kong Book Fair: special sections for ebooks and digital publishing
Baidu Library signs agreement with publishers to sell authorised ebooks （China）
19/07/2011After the copyright infringement allegations against Baidu Library in March，an agreement to sell ebooks was now reached with several publishing houses and consulting companies in the press industry including Wenhui Publishing House， Blue Lion Readers’ Club and eBook House Culture. There are currently 10,067 authorised ebooks sold in Baidu Library from 47 copyright holders. Ebooks [...]
China signs first publishing memorandum of cooperation with Latin American country
15/07/2011China’s General Administration of Press and Publication signed a publishing memorandum with Book Committee of the Republic of Cuba on July 13th during GAPP Vice Director Jiang Jianguo’s visit to Cuba. This is the first such memorandum of cooperation signed with a Latin American country. According to the memorandum, the two countries will cooperate closely [...]
