For the first time, private book distributors are being permitted to enter a national book fair through the "front door." Sixty private books shops from all over the country have registered to attend the 2004 Shanghai Book Fair, a major gathering of Chinese publishing enterprises, being held from July 28 to August 2 in Shanghai.

Publishing has been strictly hands-off for private companies, which only recently received approval to handle book distribution.  But in fact, some inventive private operators entered both the publishing and distribution sectors long ago by collaborating with state-run publishing houses. The big state-run operations have the necessary qualifications, but they lack the flexibility needed to succeed in a market economy.

Sun Yong, director of the Shanghai Publishing Bureau, said that allowing the private companies to come out from underground may rattle the publishing Establishment.

Private bookshops and distributors, formerly referred to as the "second channel," have by and large been successful in targeting readers' interests and tastes, thus pegging a number of bestsellers.

Second-channel operators have appeared at book fairs in the past. But until now, they have always entered through the back door under the name of some state operator, paying a fee in return for the right to appear as a "branch."
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2004)