China News Agency, Moscow, December 26th: What kind of Chinese books do Russian readers need?
——Interview with Mu Ping, President of Shangsi International Publishing and Media Group
China News Agency reporter Tian Bing
A few days ago, the press conference of the new book "Pictographic Chinese Characters" launched by Shangsi International Publishing Group (hereinafter referred to as Shangsi) was held at the Russia-China Friendship Association.
On the same day, Shangsi held a donation ceremony for Russian editions of "Wang Meng's Anthology", "Zhu Yongxin's Educational Anthology", He Jianming's anthology "Shanghai Expression" and other books at the Russian Library of Foreign Languages.
This is just one corner of Shanz's series of activities in Russia.
As the "head of the family" of an international publishing group with Chinese books as the theme, Mu Ping, president of Shangsi International Publishing and Media Group, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West" and shared his personal experience of exploring the overseas market of Chinese-themed books for more than ten years , and thinking about how to go abroad for foreign publishing.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Agency reporter: Please talk about the growth experience of Chance International Publishing Group.
Mupin:
Shangsi was officially established in 2010.
But in fact, since 2009, we have been preparing for the establishment in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
Shangsi has experienced a difficult start-up period.
During this period, I knew nothing about foreign publishing majors, and I was almost completely ignorant of the huge capital investment required for publishing and the uncertainty of sales revenue.
With enthusiasm and firm belief, we will go all out when we see a gap in the overseas market.
Since 2015, after arduous cultivation and training in overseas markets, the company not only gained a firm foothold in Russia, but also began to expand internationally, and soon became the largest Chinese-themed publishing house in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. The physical bookstore in this country is the only Chinese-themed bookstore in the history of the country.
The Chinese-themed books published by Shangs accounted for 47.6% of the Chinese-themed books in the entire Russian book market, and sales also accounted for 33.2% of the local Chinese-themed book market, becoming the largest Chinese-themed book publisher in Russia.
On July 3, 2017, Konstantin Checheyev, Chairman of the All-Russian Publishers Association, presented Mupin with an outstanding publisher medal and certificate.
Photo provided by the interviewee
At the same time, our publishing house in Japan opened successfully; the planned Ukrainian branch and Uzbekistan branch are progressing smoothly; our digitalization, audiobook and film and television translation, audio-visual product production and other media projects have also begun to lay out.
According to the plan and vision, Shangsi will become a large multinational media group company spanning Central Asia and Europe, integrating book publishing, wholesale and retail, digitization, film and television translation, audio books and Chinese-themed audio-visual products.
China News Agency reporter: According to your understanding, what kinds of Chinese books are Russian readers more interested in?
Mu Ping:
From the perspective of marketing, Russian readers prefer books on Chinese history, culture, and classical literature.
In fact, because there are very few varieties of Chinese-themed books on sale in Russia, books in various fields, even very professional books, will find suitable readers in Russia.
In particular, some postgraduate students who are studying for a master's or doctoral degree have a lot of demand for books on various topics in China.
On April 20, 2022, Shangsi International Publishing and Media Group and others jointly held an event to celebrate the "International Chinese Day" and a Russian version of the new book launch at the Global Bookstore in Moscow.
Mu Ping delivered a speech and promoted the new book.
Photo by Tian Bing
China News Agency reporter: What business model does Shangsi adopt? Why did Shangsi Books get the affirmation of local readers and society?
Mu Ping:
Since its establishment to the present, Shangsi has basically adopted the strategy of step by step, steady development, and gradual establishment and consolidation of bridgeheads.
We once had a plan, that is, we hoped to establish 50 to 100 Chinese-themed publishing houses and a Chinese-themed bookstore in the capitals or major cities of 50 to 100 friendly countries. Establish hundreds or even thousands of Chinese bookshelves to form a chain of overseas transmission of Chinese culture.
We first open a purely localized publishing house in the capital of the friendly country where the target is located. After a period of operation, if it is welcomed by the local government and readers and has a certain number of readers, we will open a physical bookstore and use the publishing house to produce content , The physical bookstore accumulates customers, and gradually radiates the physical bookstores in the country where it is located, and builds more "Chinese bookshelves" through cooperation, so that readers in the country where it is located can easily buy Chinese-themed books.
By 2019, in addition to Moscow as our headquarters, we have implemented these plans in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Minsk in Belarus, and Tokyo in Japan.
Shangs Bookstore in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Photo provided by the interviewee
So far, the local governments and readers in the countries where Shance has entered are full of goodwill towards him.
Since 2015, each of our publishing branches has won various awards every year in various selections by local governments and industry organizations.
It is welcomed by the local government and readers. In my opinion, apart from the down-to-earth work style and professional professionalism of the entire group team members, there are several reasons:
Operate legally.
Every time a company enters a new country, the first employees it recruits must be legal workers.
This is the basis for the enterprise to gain a foothold and long-term development.
For example, our Moscow head office has only two full-time lawyers. The daily work is to review all the company's documents and company activities, and must ensure that it is completely legal.
Otherwise, it is impossible for the company to gain the respect of its own employees, and there is no way to obtain the legal protection of the country where it is located.
Shangs Bookstore in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Photo provided by the interviewee
Fully localized operation.
The publishing branches of Chance in all countries, translators, editors, promotion, finance, operations, physical bookstores, logistics and other team members are all professional teams recruited from the local area.
In this way, during the operation of the company, whether it is choosing the type of books to translate or translating and editing content, it can be more suitable for the reading and comprehension habits of local readers.
Complete localization is an important prerequisite for us to be liked by the host country's government, industry, and readers.
To win the favor of foreign governments, industries, and readers, the most important thing is that the operator must have a noble character, must have the responsibility of the publisher, must calm down, and work hard to make every book a good job , do fine.
Doing things with heart will naturally win widespread respect and welcome from the local area.
Shanz bookstore in Minsk, Belarus.
Photo provided by the interviewee
China News Agency reporter: What issues should be paid attention to when Chinese books go abroad?
Mu Ping:
Every time I think of Chinese books going abroad, I feel a sense of urgency.
A simple analysis of the Russian book publishing market in the past ten years shows that there are more than 9,000 new books that are translated from English to Russian every year, and more than 11,000 new books are published every year at the highest level; There were only more than 30 new books on sale in Russia in 2012. Although the number has continued to increase in the past ten years, there will be only more than 200 by 2022.
Undoubtedly, in recent years, the establishment of many foreign book translation and publishing projects in China has played a huge role in helping Chinese books go abroad, but compared with the number of more than 110,000 new books put on shelves in Russia every year, there is still a big gap; and Russian readers' increasing demand for understanding Chinese culture is far from it.
In my opinion, when Chinese books go abroad, first of all, they must be able to go out; secondly, after they go out, they must be available to local people and understandable; and then gradually realize that foreign readers like to read them.
To achieve these effects, native language translation, native language editing, and localized publishing are necessary elements.
Chinese books translated and published by Shangsi.
Photo provided by the interviewee
In addition, book translation only accounts for about 30% of the total book publishing workload.
The translation and publication of a book requires not only a good translator, but also an editor who understands Chinese culture and has a high-quality professional level.
In Russia and Eastern European and Central Asian countries, the work of translators and editors is completely independent.
For example, the translator is only responsible for accurately translating the content of the book, but the translator is not responsible for verifying and verifying the historical facts, historical names and historical data of the content. These are what the editor must do, especially when some historical figures are involved. There are sometimes discrepancies between Russian and Chinese records in terms of name, name of historical event, time and place of occurrence, etc. These issues need to be verified by the editors one by one.
In our editorial department, if an editor cannot find accurate information online, there are many cases where the editor goes to the library to find information one by one to check. It can be said that going to the library to check is a normal task for editors.
Publishing books in Russia is a business that requires patience and perseverance.
For example, for a book with 200,000 Chinese characters, it usually takes at least two years from the beginning of translation to the final publication;
Among most of our publications, there are not a few books that take five or six years or even ten years to publish.
In fact, this is also an important reason why our books are welcomed by Russian experts, scholars and ordinary readers.
Chinese books translated and published by Shangsi.
Photo provided by the interviewee
China News Agency reporter: What development plans or publishing plans does Shangsi have next year?
Mu Ping:
We have a lot of publishing plans in 2023, the most important of which are the Russian version of "Ordinary World" and "In the Name of the People", the famous novel "Western Story" in Chinese history, and "The Acupuncture and Moxibustion" of Chinese medicine, etc. Large publishing program.
These contemporary Chinese classics and ancient classics will bring strong artistic impact and aesthetic enjoyment to Russian readers.
Of course, we still have plans to translate and dub more Chinese film and television dramas into Russia in 2023.
(use up)
Respondent profile:
Mu Ping, President of Shangsi International Publishing and Media Group, Chairman of Sino-Russian Writers Club.
His ancestral home is Sanyuan, Shaanxi, and he has a postgraduate degree in journalism.
Joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army at the age of 16. After changing jobs, he worked in the financial system for 13 years, and then transferred to a news unit to work in news editing for 5 years.
In 2010, Shangsi International Publishing and Media Group was founded. So far, Shangsi International Publishing Group has established wholly-owned publishing houses, physical bookstores, magazine agencies, media companies and other entities in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Japan and other countries With 15 companies, it has become the largest publishing and media group of Chinese culture in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and other countries.