Li Xueqian

President of China Children’s Press & Publication Group

　　This year, China served as the Guest of Honor Country at Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Exported children’s works of China have increasingly been acknowledged for their achievements and gained wide spread recognition by international children’s publishing circles. These achievements are the inevitable outcome of the development of the Chinese publishing industry as well as the collaborative result of children’s publishers.

　　From the perspective of content, children’s publishing of China has already completed the transformation from “crated in China” to “made in China.” Namely, in terms of international publishing exchange and cooperation, China previously placed great emphasis on importing foreign copyrights, but today it has actively changed its model to begin exporting more copyrights. This has effectively completed the shift from the past model when China mostly drew on imported, foreign ideas to the present model where there is a bidirectional exchange of ideas.

　　The children’s publishing industry of China aims to make a shift in the future from the “Made in China”model to a “Chinese Brand” one. Not only do we want to produce our own country’s original books, but also hope to use this foundation as a means to develop something with the value of a creative trademark, which can develop our own brand products, brand authors, and brand illustrators. These steps will ensure that the international children’s publishing marketplace clearly recognizes the objectives of the Chinese brand, and is able to genuinely implement the growth policy required for shifting from a “large-scale publishing country” to an “influential publishing country.”

　　If China wants to become a powerhouse in children’s publishing, it must continue promoting the formation of a comprehensively open new structure.

　　First, Chinese children’s publishers have been open to foreign publishers since their inception. From the early beginnings of constructing the children’s publishing industry of China, there has always been extensive study of successful foreign industries. From the end of the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s to the present, Chinese children’s publishers have never closed their doors to the outside world.

　　Second, Chinese children’s publishers have undergone a long period of development. Recently, necessary steps have been taken for the management of imported copyrights. These changes were influenced by our study of the experiences from successful foreign industries. The children’s publishing industry of China has formerly experienced the harmful phenomenon of blindly taking on copyright imports to create an unfair environment of competition. Some privately-run publishing companies hoarded copyrights in order to fight over exceptional resources. But actually, importing the copyrights of works they never published, led to a waste of resources and negatively affected both parties involved. Given such a state of affairs, we must draw from the managerial approaches of exceptional foreign industries in order to make improvements upon wide-scale import methods, raise the quality requirements for imports, and avoid unfair competition in the marketplace.

　　Third, presently the open nature of Chinese children’s publishers manifests itself in a variety of ways. For example, domestic and international publishing entities have established strong cooperative links, and Chinese children’s publishers have founded foreign branches. All of these efforts are currently well-received.

　　Chinese publishers anticipate continued improvements to the children’s publishing industry of China. From start to finish, Chinese children’s publishers have supported an open structure and welcomed increased international cooperation.