Periodicals:
Adhering to the guiding principle that ??Science and technology is
the No. 1 productive forces?? and the strategy of ??rejuvenating the
nation by relying on science and education,?? priority is given to
scientific and technological periodicals, and their quality is continuously
being improved. Scientific and technological periodicals account
for increasing percentages of the nation??s total varieties and number
of periodicals. About 260,000 scientific and technological articles
are published in Chinese scientific and technological periodicals
every year, their rankings of retrieval and quotation rates in the
world are continuously rising, and their international influence
is daily on the increase. There are a group of academic periodicals
covering the social sciences, natural sciences and technology. Scientific
and technological periodicals include Systematic Science and Mathematics,
Aeronautics Journal, Environmental Protection, and Computer Technology.
Social science periodicals include Qiushi (Seeking Truth), Social
Sciences in China, Jurisprudence, Women of China, China Youth, Historical
Research and Democracy and the Legal System. Life, literature and
art periodicals include People??s Literature, Family, Popular Cinema,
and New Physical Culture. The universal application of modern science
and technology, especially electronic and computer technologies,
in editing and publishing work has laid a solid foundation for the
quality improvement of the periodicals. Most periodicals have their
own characteristics and styles, and not a few have reached or approached
the world levels in design and printing.
Books: As
China??s society and economy develop in an all-round way, enormous
achievements have been attained in book publishing. Particularly
since the beginning of the 1990s, a socialist market economy system
has been gradually established, giving an impetus to publishing
work. The development of economy, science, technology and culture
has resulted in an enormous publications market. The gradual establishment
of a macro-management system in publishing has led to a more healthy
and orderly way of development.
Some 1,169 titles listed in the
plan for publishing books in the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-1995)
have been completed. The Major State Plan for Book Publishing During
the Ninth Five-Year Plan Period (1996-2000) has been issued and
implemented by the Press and Publications Administration of China.
There are 1,200 book titles listed in the plan, of which 353 belong
to the social sciences category, 299 belong to the science and technology
category, and 181 belong to the literature and art category. For
the first time, popular literature, popular science books and books
for children and juveniles are listed in the plan. Within the state??s
plan, publishing houses nationwide have drawn up their own publication
plans.
The
1999 edition of the Word-Ocean
Dictionary (Ci Hai),
China??s full-length authoritative reference work, was presented
to readers on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding
of the PRC. The newly revised edition includes a color-picture edition,
popular edition and compact edition. Compared with previous editions,
the new edition of the Word-Ocean
Dictionary has completely new forms and contents, with more
accurate annotations of the entries, abundant color plates, original
format designs, and exquisite printing techniques. Its compilation
and revision was a great event for China??s intelligentsia and publishing
industry.
Audio-video and electronic
publishing: In China, there are 205 audio-video publishers,
93 presses that publish audio-video products to accompany books,
and over 260 sound and picture recording, tape duplication and processing
units. The Chinese audio-video publishing industry has manufacturing
and duplication equipment and technologies of the world??s advanced
level, and can produce multi-carrier and multi-size audio-video
products including traditional gramophone records, audio-video tapes,
video compact disks and digital video disks. In March 1997, the
Press and Publications Administration of China, for the first time,
formulated and issued the State Plan for Publishing Key Audio-Video
Products During the Ninth Five-Year Plan Period. According to the
plan, audio-video products fell into 476 kinds in four categories,
of which 63 belong to the social sciences category, accounting for
13 percent of the total, 141 belong to the education category, accounting
for 30 percent, and 116 belong to the science and technology category,
accounting for 24 percent. In recent years, scientific, technological
and educational audio-video products have attained a very important
status in the audio-video publishing industry in China. In 1995,
some 51 such works won prizes at the Fourth Excellent Scientific
and Technological Audio-Video Works Award. These works reflect the
general level of the scientific and technological videotapes produced
and published in recent years. Moreover, the ideological content
and artistic quality of literary and artistic audio-video products
have been improved too. Zhonghua Dajia Chang Quku (Sing It Together:
Karaoke Songs), which was published under the auspices of the Press
and Publications Administration of China and other departments,
contains 1,000 excellent Chinese and foreign songs and comes in
four forms: tape, videotape, video compact disk and songbook. This
work has put an end to the situation in which the Chinese karaoke
market was dominated by overseas audio-video products.
With the expansion of the information
processing industry in China, an electronic publications market
is rapidly forming. In the early 1990s, electronic publishing was
already burgeoning in China. At present, there are 36 electronic
publishing units operating with the permission of the Press and
Publications Administration of China, putting out more than 200
electronic publications. Of them, the most popular CD-Roms are The
Whole World As One Community, Chinese Encyclopedia, Chinese Folk
Arts, Chinese Arts Through the Ages, The Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang,
The Imperial Palace, Chinese Pharmaceutical Encyclopedia, Chinese
Laws and Regulations Encyclopedia, and Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion.
