Special interview with Tan Yue: see international publishing picture from global

In ‘Income Ranking Report of 2013 Global Top 50 Publisher’ issued by British magazine Bookseller recently， China Publishing Group Corporation， Phoenix Publishing &Media Group and China Education Publishing & Media Group were listed （link： ‘3 Chinese Book Enterprises Listed in Global Book Enterprises Top 50’ of 1st edition on June 28）， which became a hot topic in the industry. Some praised it and some challenged it， but more people were thinking， what signal would this report convey under the appearance of income statistics and ranking？ What is the status of Chinese publishing industry in the world publishing map？ What variation trend is there in the international publishing pattern？ For these questions， an interview is made.

Tan Yue， President of China Publishing Group Corporation expressed his opinions on the sanking list in three aspects： first， the status and rising potential of Chinese publishing industry in the world are seen from the report； second， the overall pattern of international publishing industry is still strong in the west while weak in China， but the Chinese publishing industry keeps a good growth momentum； third， China Publishing Group Corporation should realize its advantages and shortcomings to bring out the strengths and make up for the weaknesses.

Tan Yue thinks， first， there are three Chinese publishing enterprises entering the top 30， which is a good event， reflecting the achievements of reform and development of Chinese publishing industry over last 10 years， making us see the status of Chinese publishing industry in the world and reflecting the energy and potential growth advantages of Chinese publishing industry， from which we can feel the influence of Chinese culture， our confidence of further reform and development as well as “Going Global” is enhanced and the speaking right of China in the world will be further enhanced with the progress of Chinese publishing industry.

Second， this report， launched by an independent evaluation institution， which is the only list of international publishing industry repoting the ranking of publishing group， having important practical reference significance. Two points should be pointed out from the list： first， the world publishing pattern is still strong in western developed countries while weak in developing countries， except that a few emerging developing countries like China and Brazil account for certain shares， the old developed countries account for majorities of the shares （8 in America， 6 in Japan， 5 in Britain， Germany and France respectively and 27 in Europe）； second， the “trend” behind this pattern， i.e. with the rising of Chinese economy and gradual influence of Chinese culture， the Chinese publishing industry， over last 10 years’ reform and industrial accumulation， will surely present a further upward and outward trend. From the two points， we should both see the hardship for “Going Global” in the future and our growth space. Recognizing the reality of both competing and cooperating with the powerful publishing groups has a reference significance for the Chinese publishing enterprises to make clear thought， work out strategies and tactics. In addition， statically， in publishing pattern， the traditional publishing is still dominated； dynamically， the digital publishing is presenting a rising trend. Therefore， for the traditional contents， it is required to seek for the power of science and technology more actively to explore a new road of digital publishing in the blending.

Third， for China Publishing Group， the ranking is satisfactory， but meanwhile we should be clear， first， we should see the advantages of China Publishing Group， decide to grasp the advantages to keep them more excellent and grasp the strong points to play more roles； second， we should be quite clear to our weak points and make efforts to bring out the strengths and make up weaknesses gradually. Efforts means that we should see the gap in the world and between the domestic advanced publishing groups， make arduous efforts with the sense of urgency of “no time left”； this means we should enlarge the industry prudently but not blindly， follow the law， develop in a scientific way， and especially adhere to the development of correlation of publishing and culture， because only such development is culturally significant.

The entry into international publishing Top 50 spurs China Publishing Group to think over its status， behaviour and future direction in the overall publishing industry. Tan Yue emphasizes that the future objective of China Publishing Group is to become an international famous publishing group through “modernization， large scale and internationalization” and take “becoming an international first-class publishing group” as the long-term objective. “The basis to achieve internationalization is the domestic development， if there is no modernization and large scale domestically， there would be no economic support for internationalization.” To build itself into an international famous publishing group， China Publishing Group has got someideas preliminarily， first， copyright is the basis， over hundred years’ international exchange has shown that copyright trade is an advanced communication method and a long-term and institutionalized interest sharing method； second， translation is the key， the language barrier has more and more highlighted the importance of translation， a case in point is Mo Yan’s winning Nobel Prize for literature； third， masterpiece is the core， the domestic and foreign market should be mastered from different aspects， those that are masterpieces domestically may not necessarily adapt to the foreign market and vice versa. China Publishing Group will be concerned about the influence of books overseas， which might be related with the sales and profit， but such relation is not parallel， the cultural accumulation and promotion should be first even if there is a little economic loss.

Tan Yue also points out that this report just describes the overall map of world publishing pattern with figure， therefore， it is not necessary to be confined to a figure and ranking， because the operation condition of various domestic and foreign publishing enterprises changes all the time， meanwhile， the Chinese publishing industry is also reminded of to enhance communication with international publishing industry， making the information more transparent and expand the influence in international publishing industry by enhancing its core competitiveness continuously.