The closing chapter of the second season of "It Seems that the Old Man Came" was published and distributed to promote mutual learning among civilizations

How powerful can foreign publishing and distribution be?

In the 18th century, the Encyclopædia tore through the haze of the old system and shone with the brilliance of reason in the French skyline, providing spiritual nourishment for the magnificent Enlightenment. It is the sages who produce ideas, and those who materialize them, print, publish, and distribute them, and then spread them throughout Europe are groups of painstakingly managed booksellers. Although the merchants in the world are well known to women and children, from the macro perspective of history, this force has converged and indirectly promoted one of the greatest ideological movements of mankind.

Looking eastward, at about the same time, the sweat-filled Chinese classics are flowing into Japan on an unprecedented scale. Ordinary Chinese businessmen sailed far and wide, chopping waves, and building a bridge of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges on the vast sea. There are a rich category of popular novels such as "Wonders of the Ancient World", "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "History of the Immortals", "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Golden Plum Bottle", etc., the number of which exceeds 200, which is very popular among the Japanese nobles, literati, commoners and other classes, and then promotes the prosperity of Edo literature.

In addition to the overseas dissemination of Chinese classics, in addition to the imperial court and private gifts, and the travel of monks and missionaries, it is also one of the important ways to publish and distribute them as commodities. The sound of camel bells on the Han and Tang Silk Roads, the hunting of merchant ships in the Song Dynasty, the arduous development after the founding of New China... China's foreign publishing and distribution is constantly advancing with the wheel of history. Especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the industry has changed from weak to strong, from "small in and small out" to "big in and big out", making significant contributions to the dissemination of Chinese culture and telling Chinese stories.

In 1949, China established the first professional foreign book and periodical trade organization, the International Bookstore. The curtain has been raised, but due to the domestic and international environment, monotonous scarcity of varieties, unbalanced trade structure, insufficient distribution capacity and other factors, China's foreign publishing and distribution industry has tortuously moved forward in the midst of changes.

Reform and opening up has brought a spring breeze to the "going out" of Chinese publications. From traditional books and periodicals to tapes, video tapes, compact discs, and then to emerging digital products, the structure and form are becoming more and more diverse; from letter exchanges, fax telephones, and e-mails to the current instant messaging, the promotion means are increasingly updated; from the initial "Panda Series", to the later "Greater China Library", "Chinese Books Foreign Promotion Plan", "Chinese Contemporary Literature 100 Fine Foreign Translation and Introduction Project", "Classic China International Publishing Project", "Chinese Cultural Works Translation and Publishing Project" and other projects are endless. The volume of copyright transactions has increased significantly; from slow delivery speed and low-end price competition, to expanding the freight system, establishing a comprehensive control system, market segmentation and precise positioning, all aspects of China's publications "going global" are improving.

At present, the great changes in human history that have not been seen in a hundred years are still deepening, the global fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic is still continuing, and China's foreign publishing and distribution industry is committed to finding new opportunities in the crisis and opening up a new situation in the change.

At 22:00 on January 25, 2022, the second season of "It Seems that the Old Man Came" concluded, following the footsteps of Liu Binjie, former director of the State Administration of Press and Publication, and walking into China's foreign publishing and distribution industry to see how it can promote international exchanges and promote mutual learning among civilizations in the new era.

Say goodbye to the second season and reunite for a better season of the third season. When the deceased comes, will you still want to see each other?

Source: China Net