China yearns for books on Information Technology (IT), science and technology, management, medicine, yoga, jewellery and Bollywood. And leading Indian book publishers have noticed. They are making inroads into the Chinese book market, which has been long dominated by the West.
The Director of the National Book Trust (NBT) of India, Nuzhat Hassan is quoted as saying, "Major Indian book publishing companies have succeeded in gaining a foothold in the huge Chinese market," after leading a delegation of Indian book publishers to the recent Beijing International Book Fair for the second time in two years.
Chinese publishing market is growing by more than $ 300 million a year. 400 new titles are launched every day, though only six per cent are translations. Deputy head of the Government's press and publications administration, Yu Yongzhan said China's 573 publishing houses produced 6.4 billion books, including 1,28,578 new titles, in 2005.
Including newspapers and magazines, the publishing market in 2003 is estimated at 193.7 billion yuan (USD 24.2 billion).
