Pulses are racing among millions of look-lovers and the global book industry as the July 16 release date of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince approaches.
More than 270 million Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide, making it the fastest-selling title in literary history, and this year the Harry phenomenon seems bigger than ever immediately after the release date was announced last December, stocks of the book's United States publishers shot up.
For the fans of the boy wizard in China, the good news is the country will release on the same day as the rest of the world, so Harry fans will not have to wait to catch the latest instalment.
"The books have already safely arrived in Beijing. Actually, in case any possible accident, we arranged for half the books to be shipped by sea and the other half by air," said Liu Yuan, director of the China Book Import Center.
The center, a division of the China International Book Trading Corporation (CIBTC), holds the China distribution rights of the book's UK children's edition.
Bargain price
Apart from the UK children's edition being released by Liu's company, a total of four editions will be imported to China UK adult, US children and US adult and be distributed by several different book importers.
The China National Publication Import & Export Corporation has the rights to distribute the two UK editions. The story content of the four editions is exactly the same, the only difference lying in design and layout.
This will be the second time for Liu's company to distribute Harry Potter books. In 2003 it sold more than 50,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix.
Notwithstanding the original book price of 16.99 pounds (about US$29.5), the CIBTC has decided to sell it at 178 yuan (US$21.5), undercutting its rivals.
"We maintained a good relationship with Bloomsbury, the UK publisher of Harry Potter, after the successful sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix two years ago. We are able to get the lowest discount," said Jiang Tao, who works at the China Book Import Center.
Taking into account the cost of shipping fee and other fees, the price still allows the company to make a profit, albeit a modest one, said Jiang.
Liu and Jiang would not reveal how many copies they have imported, except to say they number in "five-digits."
He added that the number ranks fourth among all overseas importers, lagging only behind Japan, Singapore and China's Hong Kong.
The books will be sold in branches of the national Xinhua Bookstore, China's largest bookstore chain, in major cities including those where no imported foreign-language books have been sold before.
Bookstores in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing have announced they will open earlier than usual to keep pace with the international release.
Two major Xinhua branches, Xidan and Wangfujing, as well as the Foriegn Languages Bookstore, which sells imported books exclusively, have already taken more than 1,000 copies each.
The books are currently being distributed around the country, and will be sealed in boxes in secure locations until the sales day witching hour comes. All the bookstores have pledged not to open the cases until half an hour before the worldwide embargo expires.
The company has also shipped posters and other related promotional material for stores to give away.
Optimistic sales
Market prospects for JK Rowling's books in China are looking great, from where Liu stands.
"Part of my confidence comes from the magic spell of the book itself; the other part, however, comes from the rapid growth of the market of imported foreign language books in recent years," she said.
Although her company has been engaged in the distribution of imported foreign language books on the Chinese mainland for more than two decades, she said the genuine market for imported books took shape just a few years ago.
Before then, most of the company's clients were libraries, research institutions and universities and most books they ordered were science titles.
"Imported books are dozens of times more expensive than Chinese books, much exceeding the purchasing power of many in China," she said.
But, with the rapid economic development of recent years, many people are now able, and willing, to pay the money.
The need for imported books, mostly English language titles, has also increased, as a result of China being more and more involved in the global economy and becoming more open. They also satisfy the needs of the many international visitors coming to the country in increasing numbers.
And among the domestic market, the popularity of imported books is growing, much as some of the imported eateries like Starbucks or McDonald's have caught on in a big way.
But however accurately done, translated works inevitably lose some of the essence the originals possess.
More importantly, only a small number of books are translated every year, thus for those eager to read literature from around the world and in so doing learn more about other cultures, buying foreign language books is necessary.
"There are so many people learning English in China. Although only a small proportion of people read proficiently enough, the number is still quite big," said Liu.
Her company is seeing a significant and continuous rise in individual clients. Their favourites are bestsellers and fiction, which indicates that they read for pleasure.
The Da Vinci Code, Band of Brothers and Sex and City all sold more than 5,000 copies, while The Lord of the Rings books sold more than 10,000 copies.
Children's books are also very popular, as many Chinese parents do not begrudge spending on their only child.
(China Daily July 12, 2005)
