On November 15, 1999, China and the United States signed the bilateral agreements on China's accession to the WTO, paving the way for China's WTO entry. As part of trade in knowledge for the WTO, the publishing industry will surely be covered. Insiders note that because of government protective policies and the country's special cultural background, the publishing industry will suffer less than traditional industries such as automobile and textile industries, but it might still see some WTO impacts in business operation concept and management modes, way of thinking in terms of industrialization and specific ways of running publishing business.

Fiercer Competition in the International Market

The world market will become the arena for the publishing industry after China joins the WTO. In order to survive the fierce international competition, Chinese enterprises in this field should rid their old operation modes and establish modern ones. Nowadays book distribution and copyright trading have become import parts of the international printing industry. Compared with specialized companies such as British Blackwell Publishers Ltd and Dawson Publishing with a big share in the world market, Chinese publishing industry is really small. Statistics from the General Administration of Press and Publishing show that China exported 2.4463 million volumes of books in 850,428 varieties and with a trading value of US$11.1601 million; while in 1994 book exports generated a value of more than US$1.7 billion for the United States, and 19.87 billion Japanese yen for Japan. Experts point out that the fierce competition in the world market will introduce a revolution of operation concepts and practices in China's publishing industry.

Extensive operation prevalent in the planned economy still exists in China's present publishing industry. The industry falls behind that in foreign countries in terms of mechanism, distribution channels and management level and it is plagued by problems such as small scale, repeated publishing, waste of resources, lack of renovations and absence of integration with printing and distribution.

An Boshun, the editor in chief of the Chunfeng Literature Publishing House, said that China's WTO entry will bring big challenges. Domestic publishing houses that used to depend on protective policies have to seek innovations and establish their own brands so as to survive competition. At present, many publishers are indifferent to market situation, readers' feedbacks and brand images, and things will be quite different after the country joins the WTO. What's more, domestic publishers will have to adjust their strategies in financial management, legal affairs, enterprise promotion and personnel training and so on. 

Publishing houses such as  Joint Publishing and CP Publishing can gain an upper hand in competition because they have intangible brand assets, fixed readership and  stable writers. Insiders regard brand operation and opening up as way out for domestic publishing industry. 

Book Retailing to First Open up in the Publishing Industry

With China's WTO entry, openness to foreign publishers expanding, and investment in book retailing and publishing increasing, book sales are running at record levels. In consideration of many factors such as ideological nature, China will not fully lift its control on the publishing industry but will proportionately open the industry. In the whole publishing industry, book retailing might be the first opened to the outside world, experts predict.

Foreign book retailing mainly takes two forms - chain stores and readers' clubs. In the future, online bookstore is expected to become the third major form. Chinese book distributors have invested much capital in online bookstores, and some even began to cooperate with foreign online stores. After China joins the WTO, the project will possibly attract more attention, accelerating digitalization of China's book industry.

Predictable Benefits

Li Shunde, deputy director of the Intellectual Property Center under China Academy of Social Sciences, said that Chinese writers and publishing houses are big gainers in the country's WTO entry because their legitimate  rights and interests will be better guaranteed.

He pointed out that China became a member of Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the World Intellectual Property Organization as early as in 1992 and gave sufficient protection to works by foreign writers from then on, but domestic writers did not enjoy equal protection and only enjoy rights stipulated in the Copyright Law (1990). China's accession to the WTO will place Chinese writers and publishers on the equal footing with the member states according to the national treatment principle. What's more, the Chinese government will fulfill its obligations as a WTO member and protect rights of foreign copyrighters, and at the same time learn from good foreign experience in copyright protection, improve China's copyright law and provide more normative protection for domestic publishers and copyrighters. In view of the WTO's decisive attitude against pirating, the country's WTO entry will breathe new vigor into China's publishing industry.

The WTO entry will provide Chinese more accesses to advanced foreign experience and thus foster a batch of top-notch professionals in the publishing circle. Brokers have emerged in the publishing industry of some foreign countries and they serve as lubricant and activator of their book distribution market. The situation is not mature yet and this means that it is not good time for foreign experienced book brokers to swarm into China market in a short period. However, increasing competition after China joins the WTO will help foster the country's own book brokers.

President of DayStar Publishing David Schoon said that the WTO entry would bring more books to Chinese readers. They can gain more up-to-date information especially information concerning science and technology, which will be good to the advancement of the Chinese people. And, advanced high-tech can help digitalize the industry and boost e-business, and may present a big change to Chinese publication industry.