China's magazine and periodical market has expanded rapidly in the last 20 years, with total circulation ballooning from 700 million to 3 billion volumes. Thanks to modern technology and high-tech communication, the publishing industry says Chinese magazines are now speeding up their pace of adopting international practices. Publishers are now competing on factors such as quality, price and brand.
Twenty-five years ago, there were just 930 kinds of magazines and journals in China, but now there are some 9,000. There are 4,400 kinds of journals on science and technology, 2,300 involving the social sciences and some 900 cultural and educational journals. There are also journals for the arts and literature, as well as children's magazines and general journals.
An official with the General Administration of Press and Publications says that the market is attracting a lot of attention with the government's increased investment in education and its greater openness to foreign publishers.
"To be more internationalized is a necessary choice for us. We should build some elite magazine brands in the world market. Through the copyright trade, we can cooperate with foreign publishers to help our magazines enter world markets. And through cooperation with foreign distributors, we can improve our distribution channels," said Shi Feng, deputy director of General Administration of Press and Publications.
Press and publications officials have vowed to simplify the examination and approval procedures for foreign funded printing and publishing distribution companies. Statistics show that in recent years, the number of Chinese magazine brands, as well as circulation -- have both been increasing steadily in the magazine advertising market.
(CCTV.com May 28, 2003)
