Second-hand knowledge

On a newsstand at the University of International Business and Economics in north Beijing, several copies of a pink Financial Times stick out from behind piles of Chinese publications.

The second-hand newspaper costs only 4 yuan (50 US cents), a fraction of its retail price in Europe, but is a must-read for finance majors at the college.

A student at the University of International Business and Economics picks up a second-hand copy of Financial Times on campus on December 11. [China Daily]

Yet the fact it is even here at all is a mystery to many.

"A man delivers the papers to me, but I'm not exactly sure where they come from," said Han, a vendor at the school who refused to disclose her full name.

A man who used to sell second-hand magazines during his college days told China Daily on condition of anonymity that he persuaded airport staff at Beijing Capital International Airport to collect used foreign magazines from the cabins of international flights, before carrying them to universities and crowded English schools like New Oriental in the capital.

As foreign publications, both in print and online, are still few and far between in China, used copies from "smugglers" like this form one of the limited channels for Chinese to (literally) get their hands on material that is easily available overseas.

"When Time magazine published its Person of the Year edition last December, featuring a mirror reflecting the reader herself, I was eager to get one," said Wu Yun, a senior student of Beijing Foreign Studies University.

"It took me over a month to get one copy but in the end I did it," she told China Daily.

Used periodicals like Time, The Economist and National Geographic, which are brought to the Chinese mainland from Hong Kong, are also among the best sellers, said vendors around Wu's school.

One vender there said he sold about 50 to 60 copies every month.

Readers of foreign publications in China include students, scholars and office workers with some foreign-language skills.

During weekends, reading rooms for foreign-language periodicals are usually packed at the National Library of China near Zhongguancun, where more than 10,000 foreign periodicals are available.

"I asked for leave from my company to come here and read foreign periodicals like I.D., Innovation, Design and Mono," said a woman surnamed He, an industrial designer in her late 20s and a fine arts enthusiast.

"Not many Chinese design companies can afford to subscribe to all these magazines," she said. "But they are really useful."

Luo Huan, a 30-year-old librarian at the library, said that nowadays Chinese readers want to know more about what is going on in the world of international science, law and social affairs.

Many Chinese frequently read foreign publications online, using portals, search engines, proxies and RSS feeds. The Chinese websites of some western media have also experienced a growing readership on the Chinese mainland.

"Reading more global publications certainly broadens the mind," said Chen Lidan, a media expert at Beijing-based Renmin University. "But right now few people do that in China."

"The driving force behind foreign publications in China comes from the coalition of the market and the policy. Policy follows demand," said Liang Jianrui, vice-president of China National Publications Import and Export Corporation.

"I often bought second-hand magazines at school. But since I left, I can rarely find them," said Han Mingbing, a college graduate who now works at a tourism company in Beijing.

"If the latest edition of Time was available around the corner, I would snap it up no matter how much it cost," he said.