Are China and the United States among the top two publishing powers? These three core data, with an average sales volume of nearly 6 books per capita, have been cultivated and published in China

On the occasion of the 2023 Shanghai Book Fair, the vast mountain and sea of books have made book fans exclaim their satisfaction. So, in the world, does China, as a major publishing country, count as a publishing powerhouse? A series of core data, forming an objective comparison.

"In terms of total book sales, taking 2020 as an example, the United States reached 25.7 billion US dollars, with the highest reaching around 27 billion US dollars, basically over 26 billion US dollars." Wei Yushan, the director of the China Press and Publication Research Institute, compared, "In China, pure book sales reached about 120 billion yuan, about 16 billion US dollars, ranking second in the world. Although the gap between the two countries is billions of US dollars, China is more than Germany."

Let's look at another key indicator. At the Shanghai Forum on High Quality Development of the Publishing Industry held at East China Normal University on the 18th, Wei Yushan shared data comparison of new book varieties between China and the United States with colleagues from various regions: China has more than 220000 new book varieties, ranking first in the world, surpassing the United States with about 180000, while other major developed publishing countries have basically less than 100000 types.

Another piece of data is particularly worth mentioning, as it is a per capita indicator. Wei Yushan compared the per capita book sales of various countries: the United States reached 2.7 billion copies, with a population of over 300 million, ranging from 8 to 9 copies per person; China has reached 8.36 billion copies, and divided by the total population, the per capita number is close to 6 copies. "This number is higher than that of the UK, Germany, France, and Japan, for example, the French have around 4 to 5 volumes each."

From the perspective of total book sales, number of new book varieties, and per capita book sales, Wei Yushan's basic judgment is that China has already established the foundation of a publishing powerhouse. According to China's plan to build a cultural powerhouse by 2035, the goal of becoming a publishing powerhouse is also a part of the topic, and there is still more than ten years left to build it into a world publishing powerhouse.

Of course, there are still "shortcomings" to be filled during this period. Wei Yushan gave an example, for example, when it comes to the basic indicator of "per capita" publishing new books, the number in the United States is around 500, while in China there are only 160; As for "total quantity", traditional publishing combined with digital publishing, the overall scale of China's publishing industry is around 3 trillion yuan, and there is still a gap of 2 trillion yuan between the development level of this industry and the true goal of becoming a publishing powerhouse.

Wei Yushan believes that the publishing industry in China still needs to improve its content and produce high-quality products. In the world, for example, the Netherlands has a great influence in the field of technology publishing and is also one of the publishing powers. At the same time, the digital publishing era especially needs the empowerment of science and technology. It is not simply to process the paper version into the electronic version, but to form new publishing products and services with the Internet thinking. In addition, we should also do a good job in international communication, go global more, and let global audiences accept and appreciate Chinese culture.

"In fact, publishing powers are basically education powers." At the synchronous promotion meeting of the joint construction of publishing colleges by departments and schools, She Jiangtao, former Party Secretary and General Manager of Phoenix Publishing Media Co., Ltd., expressed her views clearly that publishing powers cannot do without talent support, and talent cannot do without education support. In the view of this senior publisher, the new generation of publishers requires extremely high professional competence, not only values, worldview, methodology, but also relevant professional competence and innovative ability.

She Jiangtao frankly stated that currently, from technology publishing to art publishing, some publishing types in China are still relatively backward, and there is also great room for improvement in social science publishing and education publishing. "Traditionally, our understanding of 'publishing' has mainly focused on 'reading and publishing' represented by nationwide reading." He believes that in reality, publishing is also based on knowledge services, and its connotation and boundaries need to be further opened up.

The Jiefang Daily Shangguan News reporter learned that in order to strengthen the discipline of publishing with Chinese characteristics, the first batch of publishing colleges/research institutes jointly built by five departments and schools in China, including Peking University, Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, Sichuan University, and Beijing Institute of Printing, are currently being promoted, becoming a strong foundation and foundation project for building a strong publishing country.

In Shanghai, the Publishing College is jointly established by the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and East China Normal University. On the basis of integrating the research resources of the Department of Publishing and Culture, the Center for Communication Studies, East China Normal University Press, and related departments to establish the Shanghai Publishing Research Institute of East China Normal University, both sides jointly promote the integration, collaborative innovation, and common development of higher education in publishing and the publishing industry, highlight the cultivation of characteristic talents in thematic publishing, academic publishing, international publishing, etc., improve the quality of training undergraduate, master's, and doctoral talents in publishing, and create a new model of publishing science research and talent cultivation with outstanding advantages nationwide.