XIAMEN, Fujian - Publishing firms from Taiwan are eying a bigger market in the mainland and they hope authorities on both sides can implement more favorable policies to boost book trade.

Lee Ya-Mei, a sales manager with Taiwan's Commercial Press Ltd, was attending the 7th Cross-Straits Book Fair in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, on Saturday.

Lee said her company has been authorizing copyrights to companies in the mainland to publish their books there.

"Around 20 publishing firms in the mainland translated about 50 kinds of our books into simplified Chinese and published them last year. Approximately 100,000 copies were sold," she said.

Lee said mainlanders love reading literature and history books, which are her company's top products, and she plans to strengthen cooperation with publishing firms in the mainland to explore a wider market there.

Chang Yi-Liang, deputy sales manager with Wu-Nan Culture Enterprise, a publishing firm in Taiwan, said they distribute around 100 categories of books on the mainland by cooperating with publishers here every year.

Chang said his company has brought more than 500 selections of books to the fair in Xiamen and such trade exchanges provide a good platform for publishing firms from both sides of the Straits to meet, sit down and talk.

"We would participate in almost every book fair in big cities on the mainland, and through such fairs, we understand the market."

Another way for mainlanders to have access to books from Taiwan is to buy imported copies.

But Chang said that currently, the public may not have easy access to original Taiwan books because it is mostly libraries that order them from authorized import-and-export companies.

Starting last year, imported books from Chang's company have been available in some larger bookstores in Beijing, but still in limited numbers because of their cost.

"There is a big demand for original Taiwan books and we are planning to distribute to more cities in the next few years," said Chang.

"I hope favorable polices such as tariff reduction could be implemented in the future to boost the book trade."

At the same time, publishing firms on the mainland are introducing books to Taiwan by cooperating with publishers on the island.

"We issued some 60 types of books in Taiwan last year and this year the number is expected to surpass 100," said Liu Bogen, vice-president of the Beijing-based China Publishing Group.

Liu said more economic cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan would boost cultural exchanges.

"Companies in the publishing industry from the two sides have seen more frequent communication through which we better understand each other and thus, enhance cooperation," he said.

Nearly 270 publishing firms from Taiwan showcased more than 30,000 categories of books at this year's fair.

The fair has been held annually since 2005, with Xiamen and Taiwan taking turns as host city.

China Daily

(China Daily 10/30/2011 page2)