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Beijing Book Blues

Why so blue?

Finding contemporary English literature and current magazines in Beijing is more than just a pastime. It can be vital for "foreign experts" engaged in building China's knowledge and creative economies to have access to new information both to maintain their cutting-edged professional competence and to foster their own careers. But access to good literature may be as important as access to the latest technical information, because good literature, as with all art, provokes thinking and fosters innovation. Students of the English language in particular soon realize that the English language is a living language that changes with the times. So the best students desire to keep up with contemporary themes both in current periodicals and literary world. Unfortunately, good literature or other professional reading materials may be close at hand only to those with the money to purchase them from abroad, or to the lucky few with access to university libraries or to the libraries of key organizations. So what do you do to overcome the relative paucity of offerings available in Beijing, especially when you compare what's available here to what is available in other Asian capitals?

Local bookstores

Beijing's many bookstores can sometimes be part of the problem. The three major purveyors of books at Wangfujing, for example, could pool their offerings and still have less than a single bookshelf of quality contemporary English literary works that do not fall into the ubiquitous "classics" category. Of course, classics have their place, and if you have always wanted to read the complete casebook of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmesor" brush up on your Arthur Miller, then you can probably fill that need in a Beijing bookstore near you. Beyond classics, however, the buying patterns of the major bookstores seems to reflect a scouring of foreign publishers' returns warehouses rather than any benchmarks of quality or popularity, with a few notable exceptions (you can probably pick up a Harry Potter or two, for example). While not a bookstore, the Friendship Store at Jianguomen does have a book section, featuring a small selection of English-language books and magazines. Beware, however, of the water damage to some of their stock, and the dates on the magazine covers.

This situation has been gradually changing for the better, with recent trips to the bookstores at Xidan and elsewhere revealing a steadily growing selection, even compared to just six months ago. When pressed on the topic, Beijing's purveyors of fine books consistently mention the WTO, "opening up," and a steadily expanding non-expat demand as factors in their future plans.

Lending libraries

This comparative literary desert does have a few oases, and among them are a couple of outstanding lending libraries, including the Bookworm at Sanlitun's Le Petit Gourmand Cafe, and the small-but-quality selection at the Passby Bar (Guoke). Some of these small libraries charge a membership fee, usually on the order of a couple of hundred yuan a year, and some require a deposit to cover the possibility that the book may not return. Additional sources of lent books are Beijing's many long-stay expats, some of whom have collected a surprising number of tomes considering the supply-side difficulties. But don't expect to simply borrow; exchanges are very much the order of the day.

The big hotels

Serving their customers and others, many of Beijing's larger (read: pricier) hotels have small English-language book selections in either their business centres or news agencies. Don't expect extraordinary value, however, as these books are usually directly imported by the hotel, and then a mark-up is applied. For those at the point of desperation, however, the selection here is much more in line with what you might find at a small international airport bookseller. Also on offer at these outlets are air-express international newspapers and journals.

The airport

Speaking of international airports, unlike many in the region, Beijing's Capital Airport does not have a wide selection of books, particularly English-language books, with which to while away the hours on an intercontinental flight. There is hope that perhaps this situation will change with the construction of the new terminal.

Other cities in China

Shanghai, Taipei and particularly Hong Kong have excellent English-language bookstores, so if your business plans call for visits to these cities, it's worthwhile to stock up.

Subscriptions

To keep up with your professional reading in the short term, the hotel stores (see above) are probably your best bet. For those in Beijing for the long term, the only real answer is subscriptions. Unfortunately, Beijing's postal delivery problems can intervene and make this a non-ideal solution. To maximise the chances of the journals of your choice arriving on time, have them sent to a (preferably well-known) office building, where delivery staff will have a much better chance of correctly deciphering the English address. Many expats join informal journal "clubs," sharing either a subscription or a reliable shipping address to ensure that their supply of professional information is never in doubt.

The Internet

Last, but certainly not least, on the list reading options are the various Internet services that have mostly, after some recent lengthy interruptions, resumed shipping services to China. In researching this article, a "test package," which included one bestseller hardback and two paperbacks, was ordered from both http://www.amazon.com and http://www.barnesandnoble.com to check delivery times and costs. In both cases, the large shipping charge was somewhat offset by the substantial discounts available on the hardback bestsellers from both stores. It must be reported that on this standard "three book" order that in the majority of cases Amazon.com was three or four dollars cheaper regardless of the titles selected. Also worth mentioning is http://www.bookcrossing.com, the global "book finders" site; BookCrossing books have reportedly been sighted (and released) in Beijing.

In summary

With the variety of options at your disposal now clear, Business Beijing hopes that we have somewhat eased Beijing's shortage of English-language reading materials for you. As with so many things about this great city -it's available -you just have to know where to look.

As always, Business Beijing welcomes your feedback, and we love suggestions for future Learning Curve columns. Send both to: learningcurve@btmbeijing.com