"I think Chinese publishers could be doing better," said Claudia
Kaiser, who is in charge of the German Book Information Center in
Beijing, in a telephone interview with China.org.cn.
A
former expert for the China International Publishing Group, she
clearly saw the drawbacks of foreign language Chinese publications.
"The translations are not so good," she said, adding that
"promotions and advertisements are not ideal, either. Though all
press conduct business with regards to copyrights, they don't make
full use of it," said Claudia with a tone of pity.
At
the same time, Claudia thinks China imports too few books. It is
necessary for both the China National Publications Import and
Export Corporation and China International Book Trading Corporation
to expand their importing businesses.
The German Book Information Center in Beijing was set up in 1998 in
order to provide support and sponsorship for the German Foreign
Ministry. It is engaged in a lot of business activities such as
introducing German books to China, finding translators, helping
publishers to buy copyright, and training Chinese within the
publishing field. The center has close relations with the Frankfurt
Book Fair and provides consultation services to Chinese publishers.
Through its work, China has been buying an increasing number of
copyrights from Germany and received a greater amount of training
from German publication experts.
Claudia, who majored in Sinology in Hamburg University and once a
book trader in Germany, said she enjoys her work very much at the
Book Information Center in Beijing. She was happy to see the center
established and is pleased to witness its continued expansion.
Having contributed much to the exchanges and cooperation between
Chinese and German book industries, Claudia will soon leave for New
York to start a new career with the United Nations.
(china.org.cn by Li Jinhui October 8, 2002)