  
China Knowledge Press
January 2005
ISBN : 981-4163-25-2
Paperback, 116 pages
US$1,250
Free worldwide courier shipment
Table of Contents 
Chain operation has become a popular term in China's book industry in recent years. Investment entities of different ownership structures, different sizes and different properties have participated in chain operations in the book industry, ever since it emerged nationwide in the 1990s. Chain bookstores have sprung up in many cities throughout the country.
In 2002, there were 71,824 book distribution points nationwide. The total number of employees in China’s book distribution industry was 248,595. Xinhua Bookstores, for instance, had a total of 151,510 employees, an increase of 1,672 people over the preceding year. Among the bookstore’s staff members, 85,388 were employed in Xinhua’s retail stores.
China is gradually opening its mass media market after becoming a member of the WTO. The easing of restrictions on foreign investment is expected to change the media landscape and give foreign investors a good opportunity to venture into the mainland market. The emergence of chain bookstores has not only brought opportunities for profit to a once-languishing publishing industry in China, but also demonstrated that profound reforms are taking place within the national book distribution system. The latter has, no doubt, led to much foreign investment in this industry.
Today, the book distribution industry has entered into market competition where companies in the primary channel and companies in the secondary channel are vying for a share of the economic pie. In recent years, primary channel companies and secondary channel companies have almost-equal market share. Much of the book distribution market has moved from the provincial, city or regional markets to national levels as many book distributors have been granted nationwide distributorship. Some international giants have also entered the arena, such as German media giant, Bertelsmann, which bought 40% of Beijing 21st Century Book Chain Co., Ltd. (21st Century Book Chain), and hence marking the first time a foreigner has ventured into the mainland’s book distribution business.
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