Foreign publishing companies consolidate China operations

Foreign books have been flooding China since the May Fourth Movement in 1919. Over the years, translated books have become an important segment of the Chinese publishing industry.

Realizing the huge market potential, international publishers began to establish their presence in China in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Penguin Books, for instance, set up their offices - their first non-native English speaking offices - in Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangmen in Guangdong province, in 2005.

"We made the decision because we felt there was an emerging readership of people interested in quality writing in English and Chinese that was ideally suited to the kinds of books we do best," Jo Lusby, managing director of Penguin China, says in an e-mail reply.