Among the crowd of publishers in Taiwan, Han Kuang was the earliest publishing company to force itself into the international market. Han Kuang Chinese Cuisine has English, French, German, Japanese, and Thai editions, with sales in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, France, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, and Hongkong. Total sales exceed 300,000 volumes.

The Advantages of the International Market: Han Kuang has nine years of participation in international book fairs behind it. Recalling the difficulties of those early years, general manager Sung Ting-hsi says, in a pained tone, "The other side only had to find out that we came from Taiwan, 'the pirate kingdom,' and they would refuse to talk business with us. They figured, 'You reprint our books without paying royalties, why should I buy your publishing rights from you?' But things have improved a great deal in the past few years."

In order to allow domestic publishing-related industries (translation, paper manufacturing, printing, binding) to all enjoy a profit, Han Kuang has always sold finished books, and has never lightly sold publishing rights. Today Han Kuang prints and sells 30 to 40 different types of foreign language books.

The Yi Shu (Arts) Book Company is another successful example of participating in book exhibitions to fight a way into the international market. Three years ago, they participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair for the first time, and an Italian publisher from Milan bought the rights to Delicate Drawings. Two years ago, they entered the Japanese book market with Understanding Ink and Water Paintings. Again last year, they sold Human Figure Oil Paintings from Mainland China to an Italian book company.

Publisher Ho Mu-tai says that he doesn't just sell the publishing rights, but also learns the direction of demand in the international market in this way. "In the future we will publish more art books and books for private collections."

This is just where the international interest in Taiwan publications lies. Lily Chen, executive vice president of the Big Apple Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc. analyzes the situation: The things from Taiwan which are most acceptable to the international market are mostly items related to Chinese culture, like Chinese cuisine, arts, architecture, and folk customs. The degree to which other types of publications are accepted is, at present, not high.

Too Provincial: As for literature, "right now the mainstream of world literature is still Western literature. Also, it is a challenge for our things, printed in ideographs, to be translated into English," she adds.

Luc Kwanten, a history PhD from the United States who frequently travels among Europe, North America, and Asia, contends that the greatest difficulty for Taiwan publications in getting into the international market is that there is an inadequately strong international outlook. "Taiwan is an island, and the provincialism and localism of the works produced by most authors is too strong; there is a lack of literary works which are about common experiences shared by all human beings, or which are broadly concerned with international values."

Luc Kwanten takes the example of neigh-boring Japan. "Though the works of Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima take Japanese society as their background, their contents are concerned with worldwide, common human problems, such as death and the relationships between women and men, so they have been able to become world-class writers." He also notes the case of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: "He was an internationally renowned author while in Russia, because the Soviet Union of which he wrote was a subject of concern and interest to everyone in the world. But ever since he left Russia, he has had no new works make the same impact." Luc Kwanten argues that Taiwan has progressed rapidly; both authors and publishers increasingly have an international outlook, and in the next three to five years Taiwan should produce a truly international author.

Thank the Little People: In the past, nonliterary type books in Taiwan had always been dominated by translations from abroad; the degree of difficulty will be even higher if you expect local works to enter the international market.

Consider the list of best-sellers for non-fiction works by the Kingstone bookstore chain for November of last year. Of the top twenty, thirteen were translated works. But the number of locally produced books has increased rapidly in recent years, and there is no lack of books with the potential for foreign sales. "For example, I've had my eye on Yuan Liu's book set Practical History and the series of books titled The Psychology of Chinese, issued by Teacher Chang Publishers. There should be international markets for them," says Bardon Agents manager Wang Jian-mei.

Newton assistant general editor and international department chief Kuo Chung-hsing reasons that, compared to other types of books, there should be less difficulty in developing an international market for children's books, which are mainly pictures and illustrations. "Although our illustrations may not be as refined at those in Europe or the US, there are no competitors in Asia besides Japan. Further, it is relatively easy to catch up in these technical aspects."

It's worth pointing out that two years ago, when Yuan Liu participated in the world's largest children's book exhibition--the Bologna Italy book fair--they won the competition for the prize for "Best Children's Illustrated Books" with two Chinese folk tales for children, Gumiya and The Giant and the 12 Suns. You can see from this that as far as Taiwan's children's books are concerned, there is not far to go in terms of raising quality.

In terms of subject matter, Kuo Chung-hsing believes that Western children's stories are still more widely spread and more familiar to the world. "If you compare Newton's World Literature in Cartoons and Chinese Literature in Cartoons, there is more interest in the former in overseas markets, and more inquiries," points out Kuo. At present, the overseas markets for Tawian children's stories are still mostly in Korea and Hongkong.

Expectations for the Future: Although the entry of bookmakers into the international market is still in the trial stage, no matter what, there is good reason for high expectations for the future of the publishing industry--expectations that Taiwan's publications, like its other products, will have their day in the sun.

[Picture Caption]

Gumiya is a story of the Bulang minority people of Yunnan Province, and is one of the volumes in the "Complete Collection of Chinese Books" released by Yuan-Liou. (painting courtesy of Yuan-Liou)

The 43-year-old Frankfurt book fair has trading in publishing rights as its main purpose; it is the largest book fair in the world. (photo courtesy of Han Kuang Publishing)

The giant in Giant and the 12 Suns is a major figure in Chinese myth. The book is illustrated by the mainland painter Hsi Ahhsing; it is expected to come out before Children's Day. (painting courtesy of Yuan-Liou)

Cookbooks constitute one type of book which attracts foreign booksellers. The photo shows Han Kuang Publishing negotiating publishing rights with a foreign publisher at last year's Frankfurt book exhibition. (photo courtesy of Han Kuang Publishing)

The 43-year-old Frankfurt book fair has trading in publishing rights as its main purpose; it is the largest book fair in the world. （photo courtesy of Han Kuang Publishing）

The giant in Giant and the 12 Suns is a major figure in Chinese myth. The book is illustrated by the mainland painter Hsi Ahhsing; it is expected to come out before Children's Day. （painting courtesy of Yuan-Liou）

Cookbooks constitute one type of book which attracts foreign booksellers. The photo shows Han Kuang Publishing negotiating publishing rights with a foreign publisher at last year's Frankfurt book exhibition. （photo courtesy of Han Kuang Publishing）