Will China become the next publishing superpower

Will China Become the Next Publishing Superpower?

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Table of Contents

Introduction

China has long been a manufacturing powerhouse, a technological force, and increasingly, a geopolitical rival to the United States. But there’s another, quieter domain where it has been expanding its footprint: publishing. While most of the Western world still associates literary authority with cities like New York, London, or Frankfurt, China is busy building a publishing empire that could one day rival or even eclipse them. This isn’t about Confucius Institutes or translated kung-fu novels. It’s about serious academic output, booming book exports, digital expansion, and even a subtle reshaping of global narratives.

The question is, can China truly become the next global publishing superpower? It already leads the world in book publishing volume, but power is not solely about output. It’s also about prestige, cultural influence, innovation, and economic leverage. And these things are much harder to engineer than just printing more books.

China’s Current Publishing Landscape

China is already the world’s largest book publishing market in terms of volume. According to the International Publishers Association, China publishes over 500,000 new book titles annually—more than any other country, including the United States. The Chinese book market, valued at over 100 billion yuan (about USD 14 billion), has been growing steadily, with a notable shift towards digital reading platforms.

Government support has played a significant role in this development. Major Chinese publishing houses, such as China Publishing Group, People’s Literature Publishing House, and Higher Education Press, operate under direct state ownership or tight ideological oversight by the government. This centralization has its advantages, including massive investment in infrastructure, translation programs, and international partnerships. But it also raises concerns about censorship, ideological control, and the lack of editorial independence.

The scale of China’s publishing operation is hard to ignore. The state is not only funding domestic growth but also launching state-level initiatives aimed at reshaping the global perception of Chinese publishing. One example is the establishment of overseas branches and representative offices by major publishing groups. These offices serve as outposts for soft power projection, acquiring local publishing rights and customizing content for regional markets. This is not merely commercial ambition—it’s a publishing playbook with geopolitical undertones.

In educational publishing, particularly in STEM fields, China is already a major force, producing textbooks and reference materials that are used across Asia and Africa. Scientific and academic journal output has also increased significantly in recent years, driven by the country’s ambitions to become a global research leader.

Academic Publishing: Quantity vs Quality

China has made impressive gains in academic publishing. According to Scopus data, Chinese researchers accounted for over 23% of global scientific publications in 2024, making China the world’s largest producer of peer-reviewed research output. That’s a staggering increase from just a decade ago. However, quantity does not necessarily translate into quality. The challenge facing China is its reputation.

Chinese journals often struggle to gain recognition in prestigious databases such as Web of Science or Scopus. Many are excluded from international databases due to language barriers, lack of peer review rigor, or questionable editorial practices. There’s also the problem of academic fraud and paper mills—issues that Chinese authorities have acknowledged and tried to combat.

To improve quality and global standing, Chinese publishers are working to internationalize their journals. This includes publishing in English, recruiting international editorial boards, and forming partnerships with prominent Western publishers such as Springer Nature and Elsevier. It’s no coincidence that Springer Nature has launched joint ventures with Chinese universities—mutually beneficial, yes, but also tightly controlled.

China’s National Natural Science Foundation has begun implementing more rigorous standards for peer review, a direct response to international criticism. Some Chinese journals are now pursuing inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and adopting the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines to boost transparency. These developments indicate a systemic shift, though not without growing pains.

Exporting Books, Importing Influence

One hallmark of publishing superpower status is the ability to export not just books, but cultural influence. The U.S. has long dominated this space, with English-language books shaping global narratives from pop fiction to international politics. China, for its part, is eager to do the same.

Programs such as the “China Book International” and the “Silk Road Book Publishing Project” subsidize the translation and distribution of Chinese works abroad. The goal is to share “Chinese stories” and present an image of China that is modern, harmonious, and globally engaged. While this might sound like soft power with Chinese characteristics, the results are mixed.

On the one hand, Chinese literature is gaining more international attention. Authors such as Mo Yan (Nobel Prize winner), Yan Lianke, and Liu Cixin have gained recognition in Western markets. On the other hand, state-curated exports tend to lack the vibrancy and unpredictability of organic cultural diffusion. Readers can smell propaganda a mile away.

Still, China’s efforts to expand its global outreach through publishing are growing. Chinese publishers now regularly attend the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs, not just to buy rights but increasingly to sell them. The challenge will be creating content that resonates globally while still aligning with domestic ideological boundaries.

China’s influence is not limited to literary fiction. In regions such as Africa, partnerships with local publishers are thriving. Joint ventures between Chinese state-owned publishers and African education ministries ensure a steady flow of Chinese-printed textbooks, often produced at costs that local publishers can’t match. This has sparked criticism in some countries for crowding out local voices. But in others, it’s welcomed as an affordable way to improve literacy and infrastructure.

Digital Publishing: China’s Hidden Ace

While the West debates the merits of print versus digital and argues about the future of e-books, China has quietly built one of the most sophisticated digital reading ecosystems in the world. Platforms like China Literature (a Tencent subsidiary), iReader, and ByteDance’s Tomato Novel each serve tens of millions of users, solidifying their roles as digital reading giants in China’s booming online literature market. Serialized fiction, micropayments, and reader engagement metrics—China has practically gamified the act of reading.

Web novels are perhaps the most underappreciated segment of this digital revolution. Genres like xianxia (immortal hero fantasy) and wuxia (martial arts drama) dominate, with some authors earning millions and even landing film or TV deals. These novels are now being translated and exported, building a global fan base. What Wattpad was to Canada, China Literature could be to Asia, except on steroids.

Furthermore, China is investing heavily in AI-assisted publishing. From automatic translation tools to intelligent content recommendations, the integration of tech into publishing workflows is more aggressive than in most Western countries. If publishing is to be shaped by data and platforms, China is well-positioned to dominate.

Copyright protection in digital spaces remains a double-edged sword. China has made significant progress in cracking down on piracy, yet the perception persists that intellectual property laws are selectively enforced. This matters greatly for foreign publishers considering the Chinese market. While Chinese tech platforms provide lucrative exposure, the lack of enforceable copyright mechanisms still hinders deeper collaboration.

Government Involvement: Boon or Barrier?

The Chinese government’s involvement in publishing is both an accelerator and a ceiling. On the positive side, state support has helped scale up infrastructure, digitize libraries, subsidize translations, and fund educational publishing. The central government even has five-year plans for publishing, a concept unthinkable in Western democracies.

But there’s a trade-off. Editorial independence is tightly controlled. Topics like human rights, the Tiananmen Square protests, and sensitive geopolitical issues are off-limits. This limits not only domestic creativity but also the international appeal of Chinese publications. Global readers are wary of narratives that appear to have been pre-approved by the state.

Moreover, publishers and authors in China often face a complicated web of self-censorship, administrative licensing, and ideological education. This affects not only what gets published but also how Chinese books are perceived abroad. Western publishers are also cautious when co-publishing with Chinese firms, fearing backlash or reputational damage.

Some foreign rights agents note that editorial interference can extend even to joint publications. Anecdotes abound of co-edited titles undergoing substantial rewrites after approval by a Chinese committee, leaving original partners confused and sometimes regretful. As a result, some publishers now include “firewalls” in their agreements, limiting the influence each side can exert over the final product.

The Language Barrier: English Still Reigns

Another obstacle in China’s quest for publishing dominance is the language barrier. English remains the lingua franca of global academia and the publishing industry. This gives native English-speaking countries an enormous advantage. While Chinese publishers are ramping up English-language offerings and investing in translation, the sheer linguistic gravity of English is hard to overcome.

Bilingual publishing, translation subsidies, and hiring international talent are part of the strategy. But language is not just a medium—it’s a worldview. Translating a book isn’t the same as making it resonate with an entirely different cultural and intellectual context. This is an area where China still has some catching up to do.

On the other hand, as China’s economic and geopolitical influence grows, we may see more international professionals learning Mandarin, just as many now study Arabic or Russian for strategic reasons. If China continues to rise, linguistic power may follow.

One clever workaround has been the recruitment of multilingual editors and translators who bridge cultural gaps. Singaporean and Malaysian publishing professionals are increasingly recruited to help mediate between Western English-language markets and Chinese publishers. They offer linguistic dexterity and cultural fluency, often missing in traditional translation pipelines.

The Textbook Empire and Global Education

One underrated front where China is already exerting soft power is educational publishing. Chinese textbooks, particularly in mathematics, science, and technology, are used in many parts of Asia and are increasingly used in Africa. Some are even adapted for use in European schools.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) encompasses educational components, ranging from scholarships and textbook distribution to the construction of entire schools. In these contexts, Chinese textbooks are part of a broader ecosystem of influence. Unlike literary publishing, which requires cultural resonance, educational materials only need to be practical and effective—a space where China excels.

This matters more than it seems. Educational publishing is a lucrative, sticky, and impactful field. Children learning math from Chinese textbooks are also getting subtle exposures to Chinese educational philosophy. It’s not just about numbers—it’s about norms.

Organizations like Phoenix Publishing & Media Group have capitalized on this demand. They now produce educational kits bundled with software, teacher training, and online dashboards, making it difficult for less integrated competitors to catch up. This vertically integrated approach echoes China’s dominance in hardware manufacturing: control every link in the chain, and you control the market.

The Global South: A Growth Opportunity

China’s publishing influence might not be immediately felt in New York or London, but it is increasingly visible in Nairobi, Jakarta, and Islamabad. In these places, Chinese books are affordable, educational content is relevant, and digital platforms are accessible.

As Western publishers retreat from low-margin markets, China is stepping in to fill the void. Its presence in African and Southeast Asian publishing fairs is growing. Its books are priced to move. And its publishers are often state-backed, giving them a subsidy edge over commercial competitors.

For now, this influence is mostly practical—textbooks, manuals, children’s literature—but it lays the groundwork for cultural influence down the line. In a global publishing economy that is stratified and dominated by the West, China is carving out its own niche.

There is also the issue of bibliodiversity. Many African publishing advocates argue that reliance on Chinese imports could undermine local publishing ecosystems. However, others note that China has begun experimenting with co-creation models, where books are locally authored but produced using Chinese resources and technical expertise. This hybrid model may represent the most sustainable approach to cross-cultural publishing expansion.

Roadblocks Ahead: Trust, Freedom, and Innovation

Still, for all the progress, China faces real obstacles. International trust remains low due to censorship, lack of transparency, and suspicion over state motives. Innovation in literature often emerges from freedom—the kind of risk-taking that state-run publishing doesn’t always encourage.

Moreover, global publishing thrives on diversity of voices. China’s publishing scene, while growing, remains top-heavy and ideologically constrained. The rise of independent presses is a slow and arduous process. Authors who challenge the system often face publishing bans or worse.

Without a vibrant, diverse, and relatively free publishing ecosystem, it’s hard to generate the kind of unpredictable, world-changing literature that shapes global discourse. Mo Yan might win a Nobel, but how many voices like his remain silenced?

Children’s literature may be one area where experimentation is more tolerated. Chinese illustrators and authors have gained some traction at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and a new wave of picture books blends traditional folktales with modern storytelling formats. If China can succeed here, it might forge a path toward softer influence, bypassing the ideological scrutiny that burdens adult literature.

Conclusion

Will China become the next publishing superpower? It depends on what one means by “superpower.”

If we’re talking sheer volume, digital innovation, and infrastructural heft, China is already there. Its publishing industry is vast, technologically advanced, and increasingly global in ambition. It dominates academic output in some fields and is rapidly becoming the world’s largest educational publisher.

But publishing is also about ideas. About freedom. About the kind of creativity that thrives on unpredictability and diverse viewpoints. In that realm, China still lags. The barriers of language, censorship, and trust are significant. If China wants not only to print the most books but also to influence the global conversation, it must allow space for voices that challenge the narrative, not just reinforce it.

In short, China could very well become a publishing superpower—but only if it allows literature to be what it was always meant to be: a little dangerous.

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