Dr. Wenbo Kuang
School of Library and Information Science,
Wuhan University
Hubei China 430072
wbkuang@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
The article discusses the current situation of electronic publication in China: its
achievement and its problems. The author puts forward some proposals for developing
electronic publications in this country.
Keywords: electronic publishing, Internet publishing, China
INTRODUCTION
The author is an advanced researcher of electronic publishing technology at Wuhan
University, a famous University that is the birthplace of the first electronic
publication in China.
A number of relevant articles and information about electronic publishing and
publications in China since 1990 were reviewed before this author set pen to paper.
BACKGROUND
Nowadays, books are an 'everyday' phenomenon with which virtually everyone is
familiar. Indeed, these entities form an important aspect of almost every human
culture. Books include publication and electronic publication today.
Electronic publications are the publications which store digitized information on optical
or magnetic media. These media must be read by computers or analogous equipment. The
media are relatively small and light but they can hold a vast amount of information
and the information can last long time. Multimedia and interactive electronic
publications can be retrieved conveniently. The information on electronic
publications can be refreshed, edited, transferred, communicated by the Internet quickly.
Electronic publications are speedily accessed, provide retrieval accuracy, interactivity,
and flexibility. Electronic publications spell a great impact on the social culture,
science and education of the global community.
ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING IN CHINA
China started its research and development of CD-ROM technologies in the late 1970's.
China's first optical recording and reading system was developed in 1985. The
Internet was introduced in China in 1987. Professor Guangzuo Chen created the first
electronic publication-The relation history of Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party -at
Wuhan University in 1991. Now China is becoming one of the electronic publishing centers
in Asia.
China has produced many CD-ROM products since 1993. In 1997 there were 28 CD-ROM product
lines and 22 CD-ROM reproduction factories in China. The earlier CD-ROM electronic
publications, were electronic journals, patent and law database. Now electronic
publication has spread to culture, education, travel and the entertainment field. There
are now more than 36 electronic publishing houses and more than 100 production companies.
They published 1025 kinds of CD-ROM electronic publications, totaling 7,910,950 CD-ROM
discs in 1997. Electronic publication is still growing at the rate of more than 200% per
year in China.
Furthermore, electronic publications, which are transmitted by the Internet, called
Internet publications, are growing fast too. In 1998 there were more than 300 Chinese
electronic newspapers and periodicals, transmitted by Internet in China.
Chinese technicians and engineers have mastered many technologies for developing
electronic publications, including Internet publications. For example, the Chinese
characters coding and identification technology, information compression and storage
technology, Compact Disc chisel and reproduction technology, Internet technology, etc,
have been successfully mastered by the growing number of Chinese electronic publications
creators and producers.
The conditions for developing electronic publications are improving rapidly in China.
There are more than 10 million computers in China, and this number is growing at the
rate of 66% per year.
The telecommunications industry of China is developing rapidly too. In 1998 there
were 0.125 billion telephones in China by 1998.The rate of telephone popularization
is 12.9 per 100 person in the whole country, it is 29 per 100 person in cities. The
popularity of the Internet was gradual in China. Furthermore, the marketplace of
electronic publications is vast. The government of China thinks much of the
management and development of electronic publications. It released "The
temporary decree for electronic publications" in 1996. The government of China
bans the pirating of electronic publication too.
LIMITATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION IN CHINA
Electronic publications in China are mainly CD-ROM products. Internet publications, the
electronic publications that publish through Internet, are relatively less than the CD-ROM
products.
Electronic publishing houses often lack the abilities to exploit and produce
electronic publications, while the computer companies often lack the right of
electronic publishing. The government of China just permits the 'formal' presses, which
are censored strictly to develop electronic publication. But not all the 'formal' presses
possess the essential conditions, such as capital, technicians, artists, etc, to create
electronic publication. Many computer firms possess the conditions to develop electronic
publication, but the government forbids them to produce electronic publication for the
political cause. This is a strange phenomenon in the electronic publishing field in China.
China lacks enough mechanics, artists and managers for creating electronic publications.
There are 6,763 Chinese characters in a standard database (GB Chinese characters
database). But the amount of Chinese characters in the Chinese characters standard
database is too insufficient to publish some large-scale electronic publications. For
example, "25 history" records 13,966 Chinese characters; "Chinese
great dictionary" embodies 22,729 Chinese characters.
Lack of finance in the electronic publishing field is another major obstacle for
developing electronic publication in China.
A FUTURE WAY TO DEVELOPING ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION IN CHINA
The government of China should support the electronic publishing industry in policy and
finance. As mentioned above, financial shortage is a barrier to the development of
electronic publications. Great advances can be foreseen if the government is committed to
formulate favorable policies in this respect and to subsidize electronic publishers as
necessary.
The capacity of mass production is the key factor of productivity. In order to
achieve this, the government's support is very helpful. Further, stricter measures should
be adopted to protect the copyright of electronic publications.
Electronic publishing houses should associate with computer firms and telecommunication
services when they want to create and produce electronic publications, especially when
they desire to develop Internet publications. In China the computer companies often
possess the technologies, facilities, funds; while the presses usually possess abundant
publishing resources, editors with experience, the managers who comprehend the news and
publishing decrees. The telecommunication services control the Internet in China. So, if
any corporations want to develop Internet publications in China, the participation of the
telecommunications industry is necessary.
The electronic presses in Mainland China can join with the ones in Hongkong and Taiwan.
The electronic publishing industry in Hongkong and Taiwan is growing fast too. The
managers of electronic publishing houses in the two areas often pay attention to marketing
when they sell their products.
The creation and production of electronic publications, especially Internet
publications, requires computer experts, information experts, editors and managers
with experience artists with computer skills. So their collaboration is necessary,
especially in China. China lacks abundant electronic publishing professionals.
Standards have an important role to play within all areas of human endeavor. Of course,
they assume particular importance within the creation, production and distribution of
electronic publications (especially the Internet publications). These are internationally
defined standards (such as those agreed by the International Standard Organization and
related bodies) or they may be de facto standards (such as Adobe's PDF files for
electronic publishing). Undoubtedly, one of the most useful developments in the electronic
publishing arena has been the introduction of SGML and its associated derivatives. The
administration of electronic publishing in China should formulate standards, which can
meet the requirement of the Chinese characters electronic publishing.
CONCLUSION
Currently, four basic types of media are popular use for the publication of documents and
books: paper, computer discs, CD-ROM and computer networks. But electronic publication,
mainly in CD-ROM and Internet publication, is growing fast wherever in the world or in
China. Electronic publications will play a more and more important role in the human
culture field.
References
1. Xiaomao Mao. The China electronic publishers shoulder heavy
responsibilities. National New Bibliography, 1997(3)
2. Zhongyuan Si. The actuality and prospect of China electronic Publishing. Chinese Youth
Research, 1997(3)
3. Haibo xu. The actuality and future trend of electronic publications. News and
Communication Research, 1996(1)
4. Lin An. The development of electronic publication. News and Publishing Guide, 1996(5)
This document may be circulated freely
with the following statement included in its entirety:
Copyright 1999.
This article was originally published in
_LIBRES: Library and Information Science
Electronic Journal_ (ISSN 1058-6768) March 31, 1999
Volume 9 Issue 1.
For any commercial use, or publication
(including electronic journals), you must obtain
the permission of the author.
Dr. Wenbo Kuang
School of Library and Information Science,
Wuhan University
Hubei China 430072
wbkuang@hotmail.com
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