officials are seeking to boost the sale of chinese publications, especially traditional, culture-based works, to markets in the west.

chen yingming, vice-director of the foreign cooperation and exchange department of the general administration of press and publications (gapp), said the country was looking to export 6.25 million books, newspapers, cds, dvds and other electronic media by 2010, equivalent to twice the number it exported in 2001.

speaking at a copyright trade forum held over the weekend in beijing, chen said china was also looking to sell 3,900 copyright licences by 2010, up from 2,000 last year.

pirated books are loaded onto a truck in hefei, capital of east china's anhui province, during last year's 100-day nationwide campaign to fight piracy. liu bingsheng

"we are encouraging organizations and individuals to establish lawful publishing and printing operations overseas to help boost the sale of chinese publications," chen said.

"it doesn't matter if they choose to establish a joint venture, form a cooperative, or even set up a holding company."

wang ziqiang, director of the copyright department of the national copyright administration, said he would work with the ministry of commerce and seek to have more talks with the world trade organization in a bid to clear the way for chinese publications to go global.

"although we have not opened up our press sector, we have done so for publishing and print," wang said. "so we are now calling for other countries to do the same."

meanwhile, the gapp, ministry of finance and six other ministries are currently drafting a catalogue, which will provide guidelines for the export of cultural products and services and outline the criteria companies must meet to do so.

major cultural enterprises and projects that meet the required standards might be entitled to government support in selling their products overseas.

also, the government will this year extend its china book international campaign, which involves investing in foreign publishing companies that print chinese books.

last year, more than 10 million yuan ($1.3 million) was spent supporting 19 countries and more than 200 projects involved in producing chinese culture-based books.

twenty-five of the supported projects were concerned with books on traditional chinese culture, such as the analects of confucius and the book of odes; 56 were involved in general literature, including 23 on classic works such as the white snake; 55 were concerned with natural sciences; 28 with social sciences; 13 with medical sciences; nine with chinese teachings; and nine with history.

a total of 1,350 titles were supported.

in addition, china will this year participate in 15 international book conventions.

at last year's frankfurt book fair, chinese exhibitors sold 1,936 copyright licences and bought 1,245.

"china's copyright trade is making progress, but there is still a long way to go," wang said.

copyright imports currently outnumber exports by 10 to one in volume terms, and the ratio is even higher by value.

(china daily 04/17/2007 page4)