China Focus: Publishers use books to bridge gaps between China, Japan

China's New World Press inked 22 book copyright deals with its Japanese partner, Duan Press, this week in Beijing.

The 22 books include several hard topics like "Why and How the CPC Works in China?" and "The Predator Corps: Revelations of Secrets About Elite Units in WWII".

"We share the same idea -- to promote Chinese books in Japan, [we want] to show the 'real China' through the books," said Zhang Hai'ou, editor-in-chief of New World Press.

She admitted, however, that books with strong political ideology were often not very popular with foreign readers.

The era of "Let me tell you" is gone, she said. "If you want to reach a larger readership overseas stories about ideology need to be told honestly and carefully. Only well-told stories can help China's voice be heard," she said.

Take "Why and How the CPC Works in China?", which came out in 2011 to celebrate the CPC's 90th birthday, as an example. Although it has sold 800,000 copies in China, books along a particular ideological tract normally have limited appeal.

"The reason it sold well is that the book introduces the CPC's theory and ideas through human interest stories and includes comments by foreigners and even the Kuomintang on the CPC," Zhang said.

The 22 books also include pieces on the wars between China and Japan, a sensitive topic in Japan.

She believes, however, that anti-war books have a market in Japan.

Her view is echoed by Duan Yuezhong, head of Duan Press.

"China and Japan have had a fractious modern-day relationship but shared friendships over thousands of years," said Duan.

Duan, 57, was a reporter at the newspaper "China Youth Daily". He moved to Japan in 1991 and established Duan Press in 1996, which has published more than 300 books on China-Japan relations. It has also published more than 20 anti-war books since 2000.

A joint poll by "China Daily" and the Japanese non-profit think tank Genron NPO last year showed that 86.8 percent of Chinese viewed Japan unfavorably, while 93 percent of Japanese had a negative impression of China, the worst since 2005.

Duan said publishing is competitive in Japan, with over 80,000 new books published every year. Thus, the challenge is how to show a positively-changing China to readers in a country where most China-related media coverage is negative.

Duan Press translated and published a comic book on Xinjiang, profiling its scenery, cuisine and culture. It topped the list of pre-ordered Chinese books on Amazon.com in Japan after its release.

"The Japanese love comics," he said. It is said that "Weekly Shonen Jump", one of the most popular manga series, sells six million copies a year.

Duan Press is preparing to publish a comic book on Tibet, and "probably more comics on each Chinese province."

"There're many negative books on China in Japanese bookstores, and some are very popular. But best-selling doesn't mean they are good. Using good books to influence Japanese mainstream society and civilians and bridge gaps is very meaningful," he said. Endi