The China International Book
Online Expo, the first of its kind in China, raised its curtain in
Beijing on August 8, 2003. The online book fair will last to early
October and become a permanent platform for bookselling and
copyright trading.
Zhao Qizheng, minister of the
State Council Information Office attended the opening ceremony and
delivered a speech. “The online expo provides for domestic and
overseas publishers and distributors an e-business platform, on
which they may conduct online copyright trading, books selling and
promoting, as well as business image building. This significant
event will surely contribute to cultural exchange and international
cooperation between Chinese and foreign businesses,” he said.
Liu Binjie, deputy director of
the State Press and Publication Administration, gave his
congratulations on the opening of the online book fair, calling it
a revolution of the traditional mode of book marketing.
Cai Mingzhao, chairman of the
Organizing Committee of China International Book
Online Expo, vice minister of the State Council Information
Office and President of China International Publishing Group, also
addressed the opening ceremony. According to him, 823 Chinese and
foreign publishers and distributors have participated in the book
fair, among which are 374 domestic businesses and 449 overseas
ones.
The online book fair has so far
provided about 2 million pieces of information including 1.2
million about the Chinese book publishing and nearly 1 million
about foreign businesses. The online books available have come to
120,000 titles, he said.
Large domestic publishing houses
include People’s Publishing House, Commercial Press, Beijing
Publishing House (Group), Shanghai Century Publishing Group, Hong
Kong’s Sino United Publishing (Holdings) Limited, Chung Hwa Book
Company of Hong Kong, Joint Publishing Company of Hong Kong, and
San Lian Bookstore. Overseas businesses include Springer, Germany;
Macmillan Co., UK; McGraw-Hill Co., USA; and China Books and
Periodicals Inc., USA.
“We believe that with joint
efforts of domestic and overseas publishers and distributors the
online expo will be a great success thus making contribution to
Chinese-foreign cultural exchange and international cooperation,”
Cai said.
The online book fair was
sponsored by China International Publishing Group (CIPG), the
leading foreign languages publishing house and bookseller in China.
CIPG produces more than 1,000 titles of book in about 20 languages
and 19 foreign-language periodicals and other publications each
year. China International Book Trading Corporation, one of the
subsidiaries of the group, handles distribution to 182 countries
and regions. The website www.h5a3.com/www.China.com.cn, which
is also run by the group, is the leading media website in China,
which provides news and basic information about China to the world
in nine languages and 10 editions. It also publishes 27 online
periodicals in Chinese and foreign languages.
Appendixes:
Speech at
the Opening Ceremony of China International Book Online
Expo
Zhao
Qizheng, minister of the State Council Information
Office
Good afternoon, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to
extend warm congratulations to you on the commencement of the China
International Book Online Expo on behalf of the State Council
Information Office. This is indeed a pioneering undertaking in
China. I would also like to take this opportunity to send my
greetings and respect to domestic and overseas publishers and
online visitors, who are participating in or visiting the online
expo.
China produces over 150,000
titles of book each year. But the distribution channels through
which we sell our products are backward and outdated. Starting from
this moment, we are creating a new way featuring online book sales,
and I hope the online book fair will gradually develop into an
online bookstore. It is quite possible that in five or ten years
people will say that there are two famous online bookstores in the
world?-- Amazon and China International Online Bookstore. Now
that the ambitious project is kicked off, we are preparing to take
challenges and overcome difficulties ahead. Apparently, more
constructions and improvement are needed in the future to have this
online bookstore well established, which include advanced software
system, searching system, translation system, payment system and
book distribution and supply system.
"Where there is a will, there is
a way." I believe we can succeed.
Speech at
the Opening Ceremony of China International Book Online
Expo
Liu Binjie,
deputy director of the State Press and Publication
Administration
Dear Minister Zhao, Dear Vice Minister Cai, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
I’m glad today to be here to attend the opening ceremony of
China International Book Online Expo. This is the first time I
attend a book fair. I would like to extend congratulations to you
on the commencement of the online expo on behalf of the State Press
and Publication Administration.
Minister Zhao, I quite agree with you on what you said about
China’s publishing industry. China is a country where printing and
paper-making were invented, and it is also a country which homes to
a developed book publishing industry, a basic industry in China.
What we feel regret, however, is the fact that the promotion and
sales measures that we are taking are extremely backward. Some
distribution measures we apply now are those used 50 years ago,
which apparently cannot meet the demand of market economy. In
recent years, we are eager to learn ways and experiences of the
developed countries in book marketing and trading. We have
organized a number of large-scale book expos and book fairs. As
everybody knows, there are over 100 book fairs worldwide each year,
and Beijing has joined in to hold book fair too. The book fairs
held in Beijing have gained fame among overseas publishers, which
is also functioning as a bridge to link Chinese and foreign
cultures.
Minister Zhao just asked me a question about the status quo of
China’s book export. The annual turnover of China’s book export
stands at 19 million yuan (US$2.3 million), far behind those
developed international book markets. Therefore, it is an urgent
task for us to catch up with them.
China has a marvelous culture. We have a legion of publishing
professionals and excellent cultural and technological products.
The problem is that we are poor in using and manipulating market
mechanism. What you are doing now is just wonderful to hold online
book fair, which is conducting book fair by taking advantage of
modern science and technology in information exchange and online
trading. Minster Zhao just said that the book fair will become a
permanent online international bookstore. I fully appreciate this
idea. It is expected that the online bookstore will function as a
window showing splendid culture of China to the world while
promoting book trading with foreign publishers. Actually, the State
Press and Publication Administration is encouraging the development
of export-oriented cultural activities. So I can promise our
support to your efforts in developing the online book trade and
cultural exchanges.
I wish the China International Book Online Expo a great
success.
Thank you.
Speech at the Opening Ceremony of China
International Book Online Expo
Cai Mingzhao, vice minister of the State
Council Information Office
Ladies and gentlemen, Dear
friends,
With joint efforts and great
cooperation of Chinese and foreign publishers, China International
Book Online Expo is kicked off now. I, on behalf of the organizing
committee of the expo, would like to express my gratitude to
Minister Zhao Qizheng and leaders of the Press and Publication
Administration for your help and support to this online book fair.
I would also like to say thank you to friends domestic and overseas
in book publishing industry and friends of press corps for your
great concerns and substantial support to the event.
The development of information
technology and Internet is bringing about great changes to the
world nowadays in economic and social development. It has been
shared in common in the publishing industry throughout the world
today that information technology should be applied more widely so
that book producing and selling may be digitalized and more
business may be conducted through the Internet. Supported by the
application of IT tool, the market for book industry may get bigger
and bigger, which will obviously contribute to a prosperous
cultural development worldwide. Following the development trend of
globalization and informatization of the world’s publishing
industry, China International Publishing Group has spared no effort
in promoting China’s publishing undertakings, strengthening
cooperation with foreign publishers in different countries, thus
promoting international cultural exchanges and development.
As the leading foreign languages
publishing house and bookseller in China, China International
Publishing Group (CIPG) produces more than 1,000 titles of book in
about 20 languages and 19 foreign-language periodicals and other
publications each year. China International Book Trading
Corporation, one of the subsidiaries of the group, handles
distribution to 182 countries and regions. The website www.h5a3.com
/www.China.com.cn, which is also run by the group, is the leading
media website in China, which provides news and basic information
about China to the world in nine languages and 10 editions. It also
publishes 27 online periodicals in Chinese and foreign
languages.
Fully supported by the State
Council Information Office, the Press and Publication
Administration, and domestic and overseas publishing houses, China
International Book Online Expo is now launched. To integrate
conventional marketing mode with the modern one based on Internet
technology, the online book fair provides a large space where book
publishers and booksellers worldwide may exchange products and
ideas freely and conveniently. The fact that a great number of
booksellers and publishers participate in the fair shows that it is
a genuine international cultural event.
By now over 823 Chinese and
foreign publishers and distributors have participated in the book
fair, among which are 374 domestic businesses and 449 overseas
ones. The online book fair has so far provided about 2 million
pieces of information including 1.2 million about the Chinese book
publishing and nearly 1 million about foreign businesses. The
online books available have come to 120,000 titles.
Large domestic publishing houses
include People’s Publishing House, Commercial Press, Beijing
Publishing House (Group), Shanghai Century Publishing Group, Hong
Kong’s Sino United Publishing (Holdings) Limited, Chung Hwa Book
Company, Hong Kong, Joint Publishing Company, Hong Kong, and San
Lian Bookstore. Overseas businesses include Springer, Germany;
Macmillan Co., UK; McGraw-Hill Co., USA; and China Books and
Periodicals Inc., USA. We believe that with joint efforts of
domestic and overseas publishers and distributors the online expo
will be a great success thus making contribution to Chinese-foreign
cultural exchange and international cooperation.
Dear friends, it is our first
try to organize an online international book fair in such a large
scale. We will do our best to provide good services. For that
purpose, I, on behalf of the organizing committee, invite your
opinions and suggestions, which we believe are extremely valuable
for us to improve products’ quality and management
efficiency.?
Now, China International Book
Online Expo begins.
(China.org.cn August 8,
2003)