Signing Ceremony for Jieli-ASEAN Children’s Publishing Alliance.

The Sino-ASEAN Children's Publishing Forum was held in Nanning, Guangxi, on October 26. The event was organized by the Publishers Association of China, the Working Committee of Children's Books of the association, Guangxi Publishing and Media Group, and was supported by Jieli publishing house.

Representatives of 10 publishing organizations from six ASEAN countries, two publishing houses from South Asia and 12 children's publishing houses participated in the forum and held a discussion on "current reading needs of children and the situation of children's book publishing".

At the forum, representatives of ASEAN countries spoke on current situations. Commenting on the present state of publishing in Thailand, Gilachaya Misseti, a representative of South American Press Ltd, which published Harry Potter in Thai, asked, "How many people still talk about paper books in Thailand?"

Gilachaya introduced the current publishing situation and the needs of reading in Thailand through several sets of data. Professional publishers account for 65 percent of the 500 publishing houses in Thailand.

There are 367 million children in China, and with children of other countries, the number of children in ASEAN countries is huge. Serving such a large base of readers is the responsibility of children's book publishers.

Through this forum, Chinese and foreign publishers introduced and promoted copyrights and exchanged experience. Paying attention to the need of children's reading and current publishing status of children's book, publishers offered advice and suggestions.

Representatives of the publishers.

It is great to see that China has made closer and closer cooperation with ASEAN countries in children’s publishing. For example, Jieli Publishing House’s popular scientific comic book series Control Yourself and You Can Fly and other books were exported to Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, and even became a bestseller in the Vietnamese market.

During the forum, Huang Jianxuan, president of Jieli Publishing House, read the Jieli - ASEAN Children's Publishing Alliance Proposal, and signed alliance articles with nine publishing organizations from five countries. Shi Weiwen, deputy general manager of Guangxi Publishing and Media Group, said the forum will fully use the regional advantages of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and will strive to build the forum into a regional international children's publishing and cultural exchange platform for ASEAN countries.

There are plans to hold more reading activities, and more famous writers, painters and reading promoters from China and ASEAN countries will visit campuses and get closer to the readers. At the same time, different forms of reading competitions will be held, organizing children to read and share their reading experience in order to enhance mutual understanding and communication.