China, the country that invented paper and printing, is churning out a growing proportion of the world's new books, thanks largely to Hong Kong-invested printing plants in the Pearl River Delta region.
China has three main printing hubs - Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing. While printers in Beijing and Shanghai mostly serve the domestic market, Guangdong's printing industry is multi-lingual and export-oriented.
'China is already the printing factory of the world,' said Yeo Chee Tong, the chief executive of SNP Leefung Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed printer. 'And Guangdong has become the printing factory for the US and Europe.'
Rising demand for children's books in the United States, Australia and Europe has boosted Hong Kong printers such as SNP Leefung and Midas International Holdings, another locally listed printer. Both companies make extensive use of operations across the border.
Guangdong's printing industry produced 53 billion yuan worth of materials last year, or 43 per cent of national output. Only about 900 of approximately 20,000 printers in Guangdong are foreign-invested, according to mainland media, but they account for nearly 50 per cent of the province's printing output.
Publishers in the US and Europe began outsourcing their printing to Asia in the early 1980s, when Singapore and Hong Kong emerged as competing hubs.