My article on India’s huge book industry two weeks ago seems to have encouraged numerous readers to inquire about the other Asian giant’s book-publishing industry.
To begin with, it is important to recognize that China, a country proud of its splendid cultural civilization of more than 5 thousands years and of being the nation that invented paper making and printing, has achieved some advancement in book-publishing and printing since the mid-1980s. However, while the country witnessed unprecedented development and growth in almost all industrial sectors, its book industry has been lagging behind those of other developed and developing nations in terms of book consumption per capita annually, printing quality, technical renovation, management, product quality, and production and distribution efficiency. This, despite the huge number of new titles per year and the huge scale of production, which have put the country among the world’s fastest growing-book market.
Chinese book-publishing and printing houses have for decades ignored upgrading, renovating its technical system and business operation concepts, or introducing new strategies in management, promotion, and personnel training. One of the reasons has been government protective policies, which made local publishing and printing houses comfortable and secure from competition.
Another reason has been the high demand resulting not only from the country’s large population, which accounts for almost a quarter of the world’s population, but also from the increasing number of foreigners learning Chinese to seek better information about the country’s culture and rapid development. As known to many, more and more people are arriving in China to study or are joining the 26 Confucius Institutes being set up around the world by Beijing to promote Chinese languages and culture.
Currently, China has some 82,000 printing houses, of which only 8,000 are involved in book publishing. The total number of employees in these enterprises, the majority of which are state-owned, is over 3 million. And the number of new titles of books per year may reach as high as 140,000.
In terms of exporting, China exported in 2004 nearly 2.5 million volumes of books in some 850,000 varieties and with a trading value of US$ 11 million. These figures are much less than those of a developing nation like India, and are very modest in comparison with those of a developed country like the United States. A decade ago, the US book industry, for example, earned nearly $ 1.7 billion from book exports.
The situation in China, however, seems to be gradually changing. China’s accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 has made local publishing houses speed up their pace in adopting international practices, systems, and criteria in order to survive the fierce competition in the international market. Among other measures taken, was the holding of several forums in recent years on the development of the industry with the participation of major American publishing houses and printing companies. In these forums, many challenges facing the industry were addressed including small scale, repeated publishing, waste of resources, lack of renovation, absence of integration with printing and distribution.
Some are upbeat about the future of the industry, saying that China’s WTO entry will eventually benefit both Chinese writers and publishing houses because their legitimate rights and interests will be better protected, and their access to advanced foreign experience and market will be guaranteed. Chinese readers, too, are likely to be among gainers as the WTO entry means more access to foreign books and other printed materials.
Others, however, hold a different view, arguing that Beijing will not fully lift its control on publishing, and adding that only book retailing may be opened to the outside world. China, through its General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), still screens, censors all print, electronic, or internet publication in the country. Publishers are required to be licensed by the GAPP, which has the power to deny writers the right to publish their works and to completely shut down any publisher who fails to follow its dictates. Many titles published in Hong Kong and Taiwan in Chinese are also banned by the GAPP.
In fact, much of the backwardness of Chinese book industry is not only attributed to the state ownership of big publishing houses and protective policies but also to official censorship. Censorship has been responsible for encouraging the phenomenon of the underground book markets and publishing houses in mainland China.
According to a recent report, there are more than 4,000 underground publishing factories located in poor rural villages around the country and more than 2,500 sales points, all of which are involved in printing and distributing pirated copies of books, including those banned, with “a clearly defined organizational structure and division of labour”. They are left unmolested, “either due to the inadequacy of the law or indifference to enforcing any laws”.
Most of these books are of poor print quality with many spelling mistakes and missing pages. But because they are sold at cheap prices, since there are no royalty payments and no fixed costs, and because many of them are banned, they attract many readers including Hong Kong residents. Even in the capital city of Beijing, in which at least 10 big underground publishers operate, one can easily see many mobile book carts carrying illegal copies of books or book hawkers walking around with bags of banned books such as The Secret War of China, The Chinese Peasant Study, or The Private Life of Mao Zedong.
Academic researcher and lecturer on Asian affairs
elmadani@batelco.com.bh