Newspaper
and Periodical Retail Business Open to Foreign Concerns
|
China's newspaper and periodical
retail market opens to foreign business.
|
Since May 2003, foreign businesses have been
allowed to enter China's newspaper and periodical retail sector.
Many foreign media companies, including Bertelsmann, and the
Book Information Center of Germany; Longman-Pearson of the U.K.;
the U.S. McGraw-Hill; Hakuyosha of Japan; the Cambridge University
Press, and Pan Pacific of Singapore, are applying for licenses
in this regard. China's retail turnover of newspapers and periodicals
exceeded 150 billion yuan in 2002, and is growing at a rate
of 12 percent annually. China's per capita spending on books
is, however, less than 10 percent that of the U.S. and Europe.
Today over 70,000 retail and wholesale businesses operate within
China's newspaper and periodical market.
