Hung-Tze Jan, CEO of Taiwan-based PC Home Publication Group and Cite Publishing Group, makes no bones about his interest in intensive cultivation of the Chinese mainland's publishing market.

"We expect to further cooperation with mainland publishers in a variety of ways," Jan said at "To Learn and to Exceed - A Symposium on International Strategies of Chinese Publishers," held by the Beijing-based Higher Education Press during the Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF).

Although competition is fierce, cooperation was the keynote during the discussions involving publishers from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong during the five-day affair.

They not only purchased book copyrights from one another but also elaborated on the issue of how to further cooperate as a united Chinese publishing industry to help spread Chinese culture throughout the world.

Market potential

With the development of the country's economy and urbanization, the mainland's reading population as well as the publishing market has been expanding dramatically in recent years. As a result, there is a huge market for high-quality books.

According to the General Administration of Press and Publication, a total of 178,880 titles were published on the mainland last year, up 12 percent from the figure for the previous year.

The total revenue of the entire publishing industry hit 72.68 billion yuan (US$8.76 billion), up 5.5 percent year-on-year.

Analysis of the market potential is even more inpressive. In 2001, the per capita book consumption on the mainland was only 32 yuan (US$3.86), compared to US$93 in the United States and US$122 in France in 1999.

The wide gap between the Chinese mainland and other countries and regions indicates that the mainland's book market is far from saturation and that the room for future development is immense.

Since May this year, foreign investors have been allowed to retail newspapers, magazines and books in the local market. The wholesale market will be opened in December 2004.

The distribution market will be fully liberalized within five years to accord with China's WTO commitments.

Dozens of foreign companies, including international big names such as German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, are already getting set to dig gold in the Chinese market, which has a great lure because of its immense size.

First comers

Taiwan publisher Chin Show was the first to come across the Straits to cooperate with mainland publishers. This happened 16 years ago.

From that time on, Taiwan and Hong Kong publishers have been sending wave after wave of "troops" into the mainland market, ambitious to secure a market share.

Currently, there are many books published on the mainland, with publication rights purchased from Taiwan and Hong Kong. A large proportion of them have become best-sellers, such as Louis Cha's martial arts novels, Tsai Chih-chung's comic books and Jimmy Liao's illustrated series.

The business is thriving. Take Jan's Cite Publishing Group for example. Last year, it sold more than 200 book copyrights to its mainland counterparts. This year, more than 300 copyrights have been sold so far.

The group's booth at BIBF was one of the largest and at the same time, most crowded.

During the five-day event, publishers from across the country thronged in for information, almost overwhelming the receptionists with their numbers.

"The first day alone, more than 100 mainland publishers expressed their willingness to purchase our copyrights," said a representative surnamed Su.

Things were roughly the same with most other Taiwan and Hong Kong publishers, whether large or small.

Two-way exchange

While Taiwan and Hong Kong publishers are toiling on the mainland, mainland publishers have also begun their business in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Hung-Tze Jan said that the number of book copyrights that Cite Publishing Group sells to the mainland annually is approximately the same as the number it purchases from the mainland.

Last year, Cite bought as many as 200 book copyrights from mainland publishers.

Mainland books have proved competitive in the Taiwan and Hong Kong markets.

According to Jan, many mainland authors, such as Wang Anyi, Shanghai-based woman writer best known for her novel Changhenge (Song of Everlasting Sorrow), Su Tong, a Nanjing-based writer famous for his novel, Qiqie Chengqun (Wives and Concubines), and Yu Qiuyu, an essayist, sell well in Taiwan.

Cite has now established a strategic partnership with two mainland publishers - People's Post Press and Hunan People's Press.

Cite has set up two new companies specifically to publish the books of its two partners in Taiwan.

In Jan's eyes, both Taiwan and mainland publishers have their advantages and disadvantages.

Taiwan publishers are generally more experienced in catering to the market, because of the early development of its market-oriented publishing industry and the extremely fierce competition in the local market.

While the island's population is less than one-50th of that of the mainland, it is home to more than 10 times as many publishing companies.

Mainland publishers, on the other hand, are more competent in publishing oversized volumes on the arts, history and cultural relics, which publishers from Taiwan might find difficult to manufacture.

In addition, the Chinese mainland boasts abundant writing and translating talent, which Taiwan and Hong Kong might be envious of.

For example, when Taiwan publishing company Chin Show purchased a work on the great masters of Western art from Italy, it relied on mainland-based translators to produce a Chinese translation. Once complete, Chin Show then turned around and sold the rights to the book to a mainland publisher.

But mainland publishers are quietly gaining strength.

In the past, mainland companies tended to acquire rights to international bestsellers secondhand through companies from Taiwan.

Now, they are able, and willing, to spend tens of thousands of yuan on royalties, and many non-Chinese publishers are beginning to sell international rights to Chinese-language editions of their books directly to mainland companies.

According to statistics released by the General Administration of Press and Publication, in the year 2000 mainland publishers purchased the rights to 7,343 works, compared to only 1,664 in 1995.

In 2000, mainland publishers also resold the rights of 450 works to Taiwan companies, while there were only 201 such transactions in 1999.

Joining forces

In addition to their involvement in direct competition, insiders have also called for closer cooperation among publishers on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

"The mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan should be viewed as a single Chinese language publishing world," said Chan Man-Hung, Managing Director and Chief Editor of the Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Ltd.

The Chinese publishing industry is responsible for spreading Chinese culture around the world. In this area, a great deal remains to be done. For example, the market of foreign language books on Chinese culture is still waiting for Chinese publishers to explore.

Chan has visited many countries over the past years. He said that one thing that regularly embarrassed him was that many books on the Chinese culture are not published on the Chinese mainland, nor in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Chan estimated that about 90 percent of English-language titles on Chinese culture are published by foreigners.

By integrating the publishing resources of the three regions, Chan expects that Chinese language publishing can make great achievements.

(China Daily September 22, 2003)