Strategic tie-ups pave the way for more interaction with Chinese publishers

The rapid growth of the Chinese economy is no doubt one of the most important global socio-economic developments of the last decade. We firmly believe that publishers occupy a unique and important position in the development of the strong cooperative relationships with Chinese organizations.

Take for example, the Oxford Chinese Dictionary - a six-year endeavor to create an authoritative and comprehensive English-Chinese dictionary. By working with editorial teams in the UK, Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, and with the partnership of the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, we were not only able to share knowledge and develop constructive and lasting links between our organizations, we were also able to produce a seminal work that will contribute to the translation and sharing of our languages for many years to come.

Education is another arena in which publishing has led to closer bonds between China and the West. By co-publishing teaching resources, we have supported curriculum change in China and developed millions of students' English language skills.

In the research market, collaboration has also delivered a range of benefits. Working alongside Chinese learned societies, we are developing high quality Chinese journals, fueling the rapid growth of the research sector and helping Chinese academics be recognized on the world stage.

We have also seen an increase in the number of translations of English books into Chinese in recent years, and scholarly texts about China are becoming more popular around the world, feeding the growing fascination with Chinese affairs.

Rana Mitter's China: A Very Short Introduction is just one example of an Oxford title which has sold extremely well in five different languages, and we are working with more Chinese scholars than ever before.

In the future we expect all of these fields to develop and grow. In a country with 500 million Internet users and a rapidly developing technical infrastructure, our ability to share knowledge and experience of digital publishing will no doubt be an important strand in our future relationships; the sustained growth of the Chinese higher education and research sectors will provide the chance to share future knowledge; and the continued development of the Chinese education system will no doubt offer countless opportunities for close collaboration and development.

We welcome the opportunity to explore these relationships in open dialogue with China's more important publishing organizations and Chinese learned societies in the future.

The article is provided by Oxford University Press. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of China Daily.

(China Daily 09/14/2012 page7)