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Roundup: Mainland E-publishing Has Potentials, Official
Internet publication and Internet bookstores in the Chinese mainland, though somewhat late in initiation, has great potential for future development, a Chinese official said in Hong Kong Friday.
Xin Guangwei, chief of the Information Division of the Press and Publication Administration of the People's Republic of China, was speaking at the Asian Publishing Conference held at the Hong Kong Book Fair 2000.
Though compared with developed countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan of China, E-publication and bookstores in the mainland are somewhat backward, E-publication has made big progress in the past few years, Xin said.
By the end of last year, there had been more than 730 publishing houses throughout the Chinese mainland, of which more than 200 ones have websites, making up 30 percent of the total, he said.
More than one seventh of the newspapers nationwide have gone on- line, and Internet bookstores have reached some 100, the official said.
The mainland's E-bookstores are operated by publishing houses, state-owned bookstores and non-governmental bookstores, among which state-owned and non-governmental bookstores, are the main operators, he said.
Xin, as a cyber-fan who often buys books via Internet bookstores, spoke highly of the mainland's Internet bookstore operators, saying that the services of mainland Internet bookstores are 80 percent satisfactory.
...Speaking of the prospect of the mainland Internet publication and Internet bookstores, Xin believed the future is brilliant though there are some unfavorable factors ahead.
"One of the unique favorable factors for the mainland to develop Internet publication and Internet bookstores is the strong objective demand for Internet publication and distribution," he said.
Abundant human resources and lower cost of labor force in the mainland also make it convenient for book delivery in the urban areas, he said.
Relative low cost in setting up storage warehouses is another favorable factor for the development of Internet bookstores in the mainland, according to Xin.
With the rapid change of the consumption and reading concepts of the readers of the new generation, surfers using e-commerce are rising fast, gradually solidifying the foundation for e-commerce. So far, the number of the Chinese mainland Internet surfers has topped 10 million and computers have become a new necessity of many urban families, Xin said.
Xin also stressed the government's unprecedented enthusiasm and strong support for information industry.
A series of policies beneficial to the development of information industry were drawn up in various localities, which is another important factor for promoting the expansion of the Internet and Internet bookstores, he said.
Xin also talked about a number of unfavorable factors hindering the development of Internet publication and Internet bookstores in the Chinese mainland, such as press professionals' lack of a basic understanding of the Internet and the impact of the Internet upon publication and distribution.
Since the Chinese mainland is at a developing stage, the social environment for Internet expansion is less than satisfactory, which finds expression in the limited use of credit cards, incomplete financial system, deficient mail delivery and distribution system and unwanted business credit.
"These are the important factors affecting the development of the Chinese mainland Internet publication and Internet bookstores, " Xin said.
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