ABSTRACT
China’s book publishing industry has attracted much attention from the public in recent years. First, China’s book publishing industry is serving the world’s largest potential reader market. After Chinese citizens have reached certain af\ uence levels and no longer worry about such basic needs as food and clothing, they demonstrate more demand and higher requirements for cultural products including books. Second, after 30 years of reform and opening up, China not only possesses large-scale state-owned book publishing and distribution entities but also has a large number of private publication and distribution companies. Particularly the latter has shown strong creativity and supply capacity. Third, the Chinese government attaches great importance to the book publishing industry. In 2007, the publishing industry was integrated into the national “soft cultural power” strategic framework; in 2010 it was included into China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan as a pillar industry of national economy; and nally, due to China’s special political structure, the book publishing industry in this country has some characteristics different from its counterparts in Western countries. Such characteristics have hindered the development of the industry to some extent; they deserve our careful investigation.
