CHINESE BOOKSHOPS
Contents:
Introduction
Bookshops
Books and Genres
The Cost of Books
Publishing and Distribution: The Impact of the WTO
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Conclusions and Questions
References
Introduction
Despite doing some internet research in advance, we embarked on our trip with a very hazy view of the Chinese book market. No reliable figures on sales, books published etc were available – at least so far as we could discover – so we had few preconceptions of what we would find. Finding bookshops at first seemed rather difficult – something we marvel at now because by the end of the trip they seemed to spring up everywhere. On one occasion, we were looking round a grotty DVD warehouse when we stumbled upon a dark staircase. Our trip rule of always climbing suspicious-looking staircases paid off on this occasion, since it turned out to lead to a vast four-storey bookstore!To overcome the language barrier we devised an ingenious plan to gain information. Alistair would wander around the English-language sections of bookstores loudly announcing that he wished he could find someone who spoke English. It turned out to be a good tactic and eager and smiling characters would almost invariably appear. A deal was struck – they practised their English and we gained all sorts of insights and grilled them for information. Sometimes we were lucky and people would approach us spontaneously. In Tianjin, two Chinese undergraduates pounced on us when we were passing some time in a Starbucks. They turned out to be students from King’s College, London, and were extremely helpful in pointing us in the right directions. One of them had a fascinating Cockney-Chinese accent.
We expected to see people reading while out and about in China. But this was not our experience. Very few people read on public transport: indeed, anyone who has ever travelled on a Chinese bus or subway in the summer heat (30°+) and humidity will understand that this is next to impossible. Long distance journeys are much more conducive to reading – however, we vividly remember a Buddhist monk on one of our train journeys who did not read at all, preferring to spend all 11 hours reciting verses under his breath.
Bookshops
From the very start of our trip, we were very enthusiastic about visiting bookshops. We already knew that 80% of China’s 72,000 bookshops are privately owned. We longed to encounter a good sampling. However, we had also absorbed another key fact: nationalised, government-owned stores account for two-thirds of book sales.As it happened, in every city we visited we were easily able to locate two or three government-owned bookstores belonging to chains such as Xinhua, Bookcity or the Foreign Language Bookstore. The smaller, privately owned bookshops were harder to find.
The government-owned stores tend to be vast. The largest we visited was Bookcity in Shanghai, which sprawls over seven floors. Huge as this may sound, its sister shop in Beijing is even larger and claims to be the most enormous bookshop in the world.
The Xinhua chain of government bookstores has a 50% share of the Chinese book market and is by far the most prominent chain in China. Each store requires at least three or four floors to shelve all their books. Even its ‘smaller’, specialist bookshops (also run by the Xinhua chain) dwarf any British equivalent. These specialist shops are devoted to subjects like science and technology, children’s books and foreign languages.
Government-owned bookshops are located in city centres, strategically placed within easy walking distance from shopping areas. They are always busy, even on weekdays and late at night. Customers sit on the floor since there are never enough seats to go round. At peak times it is amazing just to observe the sheer number of people absorbed in reading. Surprisingly, we never observed large numbers of consumers buying books – people seemed to us to be treating the stores more like public libraries.
To our British eyes, these gigantic government-owned mega stores felt more like department stores than bookshops. Floors were linked by mazes of escalators and stairs. There were guards at the entrances and strict signs forbidding photography. Furthermore, the stock included DVDs, CDs, magazines, art supplies and even sporting equipment. The stores had modern interiors and there was widespread computer use to track inventories and to locate titles (a vital resource in such massive operations).
These bookselling behemoths can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t speak Mandarin, and can only pick up a few clues about the content of the books from their covers. It was as if a whole exotic world was being laid before us without any chance to enjoy it.
Fortunately, our frustration at not being able to enjoy Chinese books was usually lowered when we managed to track down some of the small independent bookshops that can be found if you look hard enough. Our all-time favourite is Hugo’s Bookstore in Suzhou. Founded in 2003, it offers a cool and quiet escape from the heat outside, with a small ground floor brimming with books and a spacious café upstairs. The independent bookshops we discovered did not have the huge selection offered by the government bookstores, but most did have a good offering of Chinese fiction and old Chinese classics ‘updated’ into modern Chinese idiom. Again, it was hard for us to contain our frustration at being linguistically debarred from such a rich culture. We noticed that these small independents also carry some Western translations, which they seem to cherish. We also found a few specialist independent bookshops, focusing on subject areas such as art and, once (to our enormous surprise), Christianity – but these were few and far between.
The private bookstores tend to be tucked away on side streets away from the shopping areas and are always on a much smaller scale than the nationalised stores. It is refreshing to find that in most, if not all, of the private bookstores, the staff have a real passion for books and are very well-informed about both Chinese and foreign literature.
We also found small bookshops in airports. These mainly focus on business titles, along with a few travel books and novels.
Shanghai and Beijing subways are also home to small government-owned bookshops. These sell cheaper books than most other stores and are said to carry some counterfeit stock, although we were not able to verify this.
Books and genres
The Chinese book market is dominated by non-fiction. Textbooks account for nearly half of all sales. The Government does not provide schoolbooks for pupils, and Xinhua bookstores have a monopoly on textbooks for primary and middle schools.
The Chinese cultural emphasis on education and languages is striking. An Australian friend from Leeds University, Matet Lester, whom we visited in Beijing, was tutoring children as young as three in English. She was amazed at the pressure placed on her pupils and the sheer number of extra curricular activities they packed into their lives.
The Chinese desire to expand their linguistic repertoire means that there are whole floors devoted to foreign language books. Any Westerner venturing into these sections will invariably be stopped by eager young language students desperate to practise their skills. They are, inter alia, very interested in the differences between American English and British English.
After textbooks, business and life management books are the most dominant genres in China. Titles such as “How to Succeed in Business” and “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” are widely available. Business gurus such as Donald Trump and Jack Welch have entire sections devoted to their teachings. Non-fiction, especially the business genres, generally takes up the ground floor of bookshops, along with Communist works - which are placed right by the entrance. Also present on most ground floors are other popular subjects such as cookery, travel and everyday hobbies.
On the other floors, there are large sections covering areas such as computing, politics (with, of course, a huge section dedicated to Marxism) and a very wide-ranging autobiographical section spanning pop stars to successful business leaders. Noticeably absent are stand-alone sections for science fiction, crime and romance. People we spoke to suggested that certain kinds of books, such as romantic novels, are deliberately limited in number by the nationalised stores. We saw this as a clever way by which the Government could unofficially ‘censor’ material without actually having to physically edit the text or ban the books altogether.
Bookshop sections are clearly marked in Chinese, and usually in English as well, often idiosyncratically. Headings such as “Jowrnalism & Uedia” (Journalism & Media), “Plant flowers and raise pets”, and “Science of Secretary” are not uncommon.
As in Britain, the most popular books are often stacked in huge piles. We also noted that almost every subject area has its own bestseller list. Some of these sections, for example economics bestsellers, are set out by publishing house rather than by specific subject area or author. At the time of our trip, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini was top of the bestseller list. It could be found in all of the government-owned bookshops and some independents. We just couldn’t figure out why this particular novel, which Emma had read, was so successful. Given their deep-seated love of kites and kite flying, were the Chinese being drawn to one of their favourite cultural emblems? Or were they intrigued by the Afghan setting? Perhaps the father/son relationship depicted in the novel was the decisive factor.
The Cost of Books
In China, books cost less than in the UK. But, relative to average income, prices are still high and rising quickly. On average, in the cities we visited, textbooks and language books cost ¥40-60 (£2.70 – £4.05), novels ¥20-30 (£1.35 – £2.00), autobiographies ¥30+ (£2.00+), translated classics such as “Pride and Prejudice” ¥5-10 (£0.34-£0.68), and dictionaries about ¥15 (£1.00).
Not surprisingly, imported books command a much higher price, with most costing well over ¥100. For example, a hardback copy of “The Google Story” by David Vise retails at ¥170 (£11.21) compared to an RRP of £14.99 in the UK.
Although we only visited the affluent eastern areas of China, we learnt from talking to locals that prices vary widely from region to region. As economists, this system of variable pricing appeared irrational. We wondered if this was simply due to market forces at work or whether there were other factors involved.
It is interesting to compare the cost of book with other forms of entertainment in China. A cinema ticket costs ¥20-30 (£1.35 – £2.00), a DVD ¥30 (and a fake ¥6-7), and a meal can cost about ¥15 per person. By these measures locally produced books are roughly in line with prices we would expect in the West when the cost of living is taken into account. However, it is a different story with imported books, which are always expensive, and in many cases luxury items.
Publishing and distribution: the impact of the WTO
China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has had a profound impact on the whole Chinese economy, and the publishing and distribution sectors are no exception. Surprisingly, given that we are economics students, we had never had the opportunity to study this great international treaty in any detail while at University, any more than the Chinese economy itself. It was therefore a revelation to visit the country and to gain a few insights into how macroeconomic measures of this magnitude could permeate an entire country in such a short space of time.It is easier to grasp this impact if one looks at different areas of influence: firstly, improvements in China’s market economy system; secondly, with new rules and regulations for dealing with foreign countries; thirdly, amendments to laws and regulations. The latter promote protection of intellectual property rights (including copyright, patents and trademarks). As a result of these and many other changes, too numerous to cover here, foreign goods have gained easier and wider access to Chinese markets and there has been a concomitant increase in foreign investment.
When considering the impact of WTO entry on the book industry in China, it is convenient to break it down into three distinct sectors – publishing, printing and distribution. So far, the WTO entry has had a major effect in channelling private and foreign investment into the printing and distribution sectors.
In the case of book publishing, there are two fundamental changes, which will be far-reaching in their impact. Firstly, publishing houses now have to make a profit. Secondly, monopolies in certain areas, such as science and children’s literature, have been abolished, to generate competition. The abolition of prestigious and lucrative monopolies such as science book publishing must be a complex and hotly contested process, but we never had a chance to probe into this.
The book market is predominantly a Chinese-language one, but there is clearly demand for works in their original languages, although these are not prominently displayed or stocked in large quantities. This could be to do with the cost of transport and restrictions in supply – after all, foreign companies are not yet publishing books in China. Furthermore, it is impossible for foreign publishers to distribute their books without a local partner. Having made these points, it is worth bearing in mind that imported books are expensive the world over.
The relationship between publisher and distributor is complicated. Every book must have an ISBN number to be published and only the publishing houses can issue them. Now individuals and firms are exploiting a loophole in the law to create a technically illegal market for ISBN codes in China. Firms called ‘culture houses’ have emerged that find titles, buy the rights, and sell them on to the publishing houses for up to $2,500 each. The publishing houses then issue them with an ISBN code and publish them.
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Over the last few decades, China’s record of upholding intellectual property rights has been poor, at least from a British perspective. But cases of copyright infringement are being increasingly heard in court. The guilty are even being penalised. For example, the rights holders of Garfield and Peter Rabbit recently won a piracy action in China.
When it comes to Chinese authors retaining copyright in their work, the situation is still precarious. The individual Chinese writer is still likely to struggle when publishers wish to buy out all their rights in a work. For example, Yang Erche Namu, an author from Beijing, lost the rights to her 2003 novel “Leaving Mother Lake” and was only ever paid US $10,000, despite estimated sales of two million copies.
One of the main aims of our trip was to try to discover more about copyright in China. However, we found it rather difficult to uncover anything of real substance about the subject whilst we were there. It was quite apparent that the bookshop staff we questioned about copyright did not know much about the subject. But that would probably hold true the world over.
Given the difficulties of understanding the Chinese legal system encountered by outsiders, any conventional-sounding ruminations on copyright in China may be completely off-beam. It can only be revealing to look at Chinese property law in this connection. The concepts of owner, occupier, seller and leaseholder which seem elemental and basic to us – in fact we can hardly imagine life without them – cannot be clearly and easily translated into the Chinese context. Given that this is the case with tangible property rights, it is highly likely that the same will hold true for intangible rights such as intellectual property.
Conclusions and Questions
We found the book market in China fascinating because it seemed so different from the one we were familiar with at home in Britain. Appetites for certain genres differ widely. The Chinese also seem to view and treat bookshops more like public libraries. The best-selling books seem to be ones that facilitate contact with the outside world: English language textbooks and business books particularly.However, it is important to emphasise that foreign influence is now widespread in all the cities we visited, and not just in the book industry. The Chinese enjoy consumerism, especially in food and fashion . But despite superficial similarities, this consumerism is not necessarily directly equated with a Western model, although there are often striking parallels.
Turning back to the book business, the Chinese, in common with the rest of the world, are probably more interested in other media: film, TV, music. Yes, the book business is expanding, but books are still taking a back seat in the cultural forum. On the streets of the big cities, you can see this at once: Western brands, ranging from Gap to Gucci, are already omnipresent, with their own shops, advertising and business systems firmly in place. But this is not true of Western booksellers or publishers.
In fact, several large trade publishing conglomerates have recently announced what can best be described as cautious ‘toe-dipping’ experiments. In our view, these cannot work because they have been conceived and implemented from a narrowly Western point of view. The publishers are paddling round the Isle of Wight, oblivious to the fact that a more ambitious voyage of discovery is required. The problem may be that they are frightened of risk and do not relish dealing with Chinese bureaucracy. The uncertain future of copyright must also act as a deterrent. To an outsider, this preoccupation with problems and obstacles seems short-sighted given the ubiquity of the English language and the colossal number of Chinese readers to be won.Furthermore, the Western publishers are compounding their negativism by making the main thrust of their strategy a one-way traffic system, whereby they sell into China, but do not buy more than a token handful of Chinese titles in return. The superiority and inflexibility of this attitude is not attractive.
In conclusion, the Western book trade has been ignoring a vital market that it cannot afford to miss out on, and may well continue to do so. While China’s 1.3 billion consumers will have a decisive influence on the future of the world’s book industry, it remains unclear whether English-language publishers and booksellers will have the nous to become much more dexterous with their chopsticks.
References
‘The world's biggest book market’
by Mike Meyer, New York Times, 13 March 2005,
‘China’s books: Why they keep getting more expensive’
by Lu Wenjun, Oriental Outlook, 25 August 2005,
‘WTO entry accelerates reform of China's economy’
People’s Daily, 7 November 2003,