Changsha Accelerates Southern China Book and Periodical Printing Base as Out-of-Province Orders Keep Flowing In

At Hunan Lingyu Paper Products Co., Ltd. in Huanghua Town, Changsha County, visitors immediately notice the enormous volume of printing work the company handles for Beijing Quyixian Book Planning Co., Ltd. Quyixian has placed a logistics warehouse and an e-commerce center inside the plant, and it has also located its Hunan branch there.

In 2020, Quyixian transferred its northern printing operations to Changsha, with 10 companies, including Lingyu, taking part in production. This year, the company intends to channel most of its printing business to Changsha.

Wu Huikai, chairman of Hunan Lingyu Paper Products, recalled that the earlier goal was simply to keep Changsha orders in Changsha. Now, not only has Hunan business stayed local, but a large wave of work from other provinces has arrived. He added that several Beijing companies are discussing printing projects with him, and more Changsha printers would be needed for full collaboration.

This rapid rise in out-of-province printing orders offers a snapshot of Changsha's high-quality printing development and highlights the confidence and strength behind its ambition to become a book and periodical printing base in southern China.

Growing Against the Trend: Why the Printing Industry Favors the Star City

Compared with the so-called Hunan TV army and Hunan publishing army, Changsha's printing sector has often kept a lower profile. Yet multiple indicators show that it is now enjoying an unusually strong growth phase.

In 2019, Hunan ranked fifth nationwide in printing output value, trailing Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong and Beijing. In 2020, despite the pandemic, Changsha's printing industry expanded against the trend, reaching a total output value of 17.3 billion yuan, up 4.8%. Hunan Lingyu illustrates the shift: its output value rose from more than 100 million yuan in 2019 to 340 million yuan in 2020.

Most of the new room for growth comes from book and periodical printing orders outside Hunan. Changsha has now built long-term strategic partnerships with many booksellers across China. In the northern segment, Hunan Tianwen Printing and Yajia Color Printing work long term with Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing Education Science Publishing House, Beijing Wusan Classic Books and China Renmin University Press; Hongfa Printing, People's Jindian and Hunan Lixin partner with Beijing People's Education Press, Foreign Languages Press, People's Publishing House and Tuanjie Publishing House; Mingxiang Printing has long-term cooperation with booksellers in Hubei. In the western segment, Jinying Printing, Hunan Huashang Culture and Hunan Zhongxin Printing collaborate with several publishers in Guizhou, Shaanxi, Guangxi and other areas. In the eastern segment, Changsha Chaofeng Printing and Guanshan Meiyin maintain sound ties with multiple Jiangxi publishers, which also send key hardcover titles to Changsha Chaofeng for printing.

Why does so much out-of-province printing work keep flowing into Changsha?

An official from the Printing Office of the Publicity Department of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee said Changsha has worked hard to become a printing city known for good quality and favorable pricing. It has addressed booksellers' pain points in policy, equipment, quality, service and logistics, lifting industry recognition.

Changsha is home to 640 printing enterprises and 17,000 employees. In 2018, 55 companies had output value above 20 million yuan and 41 exceeded 50 million yuan. By 2020, those figures had reached 91 and 45, respectively. Greater industrial concentration and smarter operations have strengthened Changsha's ability to take on business from other provinces.

As green printing becomes a dominant trend, Changsha is guiding printers into industrial parks and promoting cluster development. Environmental governance, intelligent upgrading and industrial concentration have all made major gains. In the first quarter of this year, 31 printing and related supporting enterprises, with support from Kaifu District and Jinxia Economic Development Zone, joined forces to build the intelligent, green, 4.0-version Changsha Printing Technology and Cultural-Creative Industrial Park, expanding capacity to receive printing industry transfers from across the country.

At the same time, China's four-vertical, four-horizontal high-speed rail network, together with improved aviation and freight logistics, gives Changsha a clear locational advantage. With time-sensitive competition intensifying, its strategic position is becoming more prominent.

The Printing Strength of an Innovative and Creative City

Building a book and periodical printing base in southern China is an innovative step for Changsha's printing industry as it seeks to lead in the three highs and four new strategy, support a development pattern based on domestic circulation and domestic-international dual circulation, and promote sustained, healthy growth of the cultural industry.

As an innovative and creative city, Changsha has produced notable scientific and technological achievements in recent years. It continues to use innovation to drive development and move innovative results toward high-end industries. Its strong cultural industry foundation has also given solid support to printing. After years of cultivation, the Changsha Printing Expo has become the largest and most comprehensive printing industry event in central China.

From June 8 to 10, 2020, the three-day Central (Changsha) Printing Industry Expo was held in Changsha, Hunan. It was the first major offline exhibition for China's printing industry since the outbreak of COVID-19.

The event covered 18,000 square meters, equal to 418 standard booths. Nearly 240 brand enterprises exhibited, and 20,000 professional visitors attended. Held during normalized pandemic control, it was the largest Changsha printing expo to date, with the most participants, the richest program and the strongest industry influence.

The expo gave local printers a valuable chance to showcase their capabilities and win orders. Companies such as Yajia Color Printing, Hongfa Printing, Yagao Color Printing, Lide Printing and Maya Printing gained business, while many smaller firms exhibited together through alliances. These alliances included not only printers but also paper, ink and glue suppliers across the upstream and downstream chain, greatly improving their competitiveness. The follow-up effects are still unfolding.

To further advance high-quality development, sharpen competitiveness and expand the influence of book and periodical printing, Changsha this year became the first in China to issue a local high-standard quality system for book and periodical printing.

The system has broad coverage and forms a complete set of quality standards covering printing raw and auxiliary materials, printing quality, binding quality, finished product quality and environmental quality. Its parameters are also higher than the relevant national standards for book and periodical printing.

For textbook and supplementary material printing, for example, the system requires high-standard educational titles to be produced according to book-level quality requirements. In binding, it adds requirements for white edges, small pages and cover flaps, raises parameters such as binding strength, and adds environmental quality requirements for supplementary products.

Beijing Quyixian, known for strict quality requirements, highly recognizes Changsha's production quality. At the start of this year, it sharply increased the business it places in Changsha.

Internet-Famous Changsha Is Also a Book-Scented Changsha

Printing publications such as books, newspapers and periodicals is an important part of cultural development and plays a prominent role in building a socialist cultural power. Demand for book printing is closely tied to national education; broader access to education will drive steady growth in the printing market.

A leader from the Publicity Department of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee said that focusing on book and periodical printing and building a southern China book and periodical printing base is Changsha's conscious contribution to building a book-scented China.

People in Changsha love reading, and the city has a rich book-scented atmosphere. They also know how to make books, and the Hunan publishing army is widely known. Enhancing the quality and influence of Changsha printing and building a printing highland is a natural step in shaping the city through culture.

In recent years, Changsha has gained fame as an internet-famous city, supported by industries that have also become online sensations. This reflects new improvements in urban governance, governance systems, city quality and cultural image. To keep an internet-famous city popular for the long run, it must gain greater height, warmth and depth, integrating literature and art, cultural tourism, cultural creativity and cultural industries into the three highs and four new strategy and into the development of the Changsha middle reaches city cluster, so that a symphony can be played at a higher level.

Building a southern China book and periodical printing base can optimize the national printing industrial structure, facilitate industrial gradient transfer, promote balanced development of printing across China, and serve as an important pillar for high-quality development of the national printing industry.

It is reported that, as a platform supporting Changsha's effort to build a southern China book and periodical printing base, the Changsha Printing Expo has received support from the China Printing Technology Association and the Printing and Printing Equipment Industries Association of China. The Century Red Printing themed exhibition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 2021 China Printing Industry Summit Forum will be held in Changsha in the second half of this year. They will again make Changsha's voice heard in guiding new development concepts, exploring new development models, showcasing new development projects and promoting new products.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-377332.html