But the young hero in Chinese legend possesses a magic brush that makes everything and every living being come alive.

Ma uses his brush to help the poor only. When a local despot asks him to paint a crock of gold, he refuses. He later complies with the despot's order, only to paint a golden mountain in the sea and send the despot and other greedy people in a fancy ship on a stormy voyage.

Ma Liang and his magic brush have fascinated generations of young Chinese children.

The colorful picture collections of Ma Liang's story and other Chinese legends for children are best-sellers on the Chinese mainland and have had their copyrights purchased by publishers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as Malaysia and Singapore.

Successful Publisher

The publisher who has been able to sell 159 copyrighted titles of traditional Chinese legends and popular science collections to children abroad is Zhejiang Juvenile and Children's Book Publishing House. It is based in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, and has become the leader in the children's books market on the Chinese mainland.

In December, 39 titles were listed in the top 100 best-selling children's books in the country by Beijing-based Open Book Market Research Institute, which based its survey on retail book markets.

During the national trade fair on children's books in September, the Zhejiang publisher signed contracts worth 21 million yuan (US$2.5 million). It seized 7.58 per cent market share -- 2.37 percentage points more than the Beijing-based and second-ranked China Juvenile and Children's Publishing House.

Chen Chunyue, president of the publisher, attributed his company's success to its close attention to copyright trading.

"We not only sell but have also bought copyrights of the best children's books and collections from abroad," he told China Daily.

The publisher's series of humorous stories for children is a good example. After the successful launch of a set of the books on Chinese humorous literature for children in 1998, the company has since bought 14 titles from abroad to add to its series of World Comic Literature for Children.

Between 1990 and 2002, Chen's company purchased a total of 38 sets of book copyrights. The titles ranged from one children's encyclopedia from Japan and another from Britain to children's literature from publishers in the United States, France, Germany, Italy and New Zealand.

While most companies are still learning about copyright trading, Chen's company has earned returns from dealing with foreign publishers.

The set of 21st Century Children's Encyclopaedia from Japan has sold more than 200,000 copies, earning the company 20 million yuan (US$2.42 million) in revenue.

Chibi Maruko, a cartoon series from Japan, proved a success in China in 2001. The cartoon image of Chibi Maruko has become an idol of many Chinese children.

To cater to these trends, the Zhejiang publisher immediately purchased copyrights of a Chibi Maruko book series from a Hong Kong company, and published the books in October 2001.

The books were warmly welcomed by Chinese readers, who were fascinated by the TV cartoon. So far a total of 660,000 copies have been sold.

The company also purchased copyrights of the Noddy series from Chorion in Britain and these have rolled off the presses, Chen said.

Noddy, created by British writer Enid Blyton with the vivid sketches of Dutch artist Eelco Martinus Ten Harmsen van der Beek in 1949, has remained one of the most distinguished icons in British culture.

"Chinese children will love him for his kindness, uprightness and courage," Chen said.

A Growing Trade

The success of the Zhejiang Juvenile and Children's Publishing House is only one indicator of a growing copyright trade in China, according to China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation.

As a prelude to the Beijing International Book Fair in May, a seminar on the development of copyright trading was held last month in Beijing.

Representatives from most of the 560 publishing houses gathered together to discuss how to improve copyright trading of books and audio and visual products between China and the rest of the world.

Chen Chunyue shared his company's experience but many other publishers still dwelt on the issues of "what to do and how to do it" in the practice of importing and exporting copyrights.

"I would rather call it a training course than a seminar," said Zhu Zhigang, director of the Exhibition Department at the import/export company. This was the fourth Beijing International Book Fair since 1998.

But Zhu said the questions of "what to do" and "how to do it" were already signs of progress. "In the past, it took us a great deal of time to explain what copyright trading was," said Zhu.

Representatives were asking for more in-depth information, such as relevant policies and regulations, and how to deal with banks and tax departments.

It has taken more than 10 years to develop the copyright trading business for books in China, Zhu said.

Although publishing companies such as the Beijing-based Commercial Press and People's Literature Publishing Houses started publishing foreign books after purchasing copyrights many years ago, it was not until early 1990 that copyright trading was thrust on to the right track in China.

In 1991, China promulgated its first-ever copyright law. A year later, it joined a series of international copyright protection treaties.

In 1990, fewer than 1,000 titles were published with purchased copyrights.

That figure increased six-fold in 2000.

A few real-life examples of success have compelled Chinese publishers to take copyright trading seriously.

One example is the Harry Potter series. The simplified Chinese language edition was first published by the People's Literature Publishing House in autumn 2000, and became the best-selling fiction of 2001.

"There were a dozen domestic companies fighting with us for the copyright of Harry Potter. The competition had really heated up," recalled Wang Xiao, editor in charge of the marketing of Harry Potter Series.

Although great achievements have been made, Zhu Zhigang said many problems still remain.

Half of the 560 publishers in China have never engaged in any kind of copyright trading.

Another problem is that there are not enough copyright agents in China.

According to Zhu, there are only 28 agents on the Chinese mainland, while there are more than 200 in Britain, and more than 600 in the United States.

According to Zhang Hongbo, who worked at a copyright agency in Beijing, all 28 agents are State-owned or affiliated to or under the local administration of copyright protection. They offer very "limited" services.

In addition, the size of these agencies are very small. The larger ones have about 10 employees each while the remainder have only 2 or 3 people.

According to Zhang, that is not enough for the developing publishing industry. Apart from 560 publishing houses, there are more than 200 audio and visual products publishers, nearly 9,000 periodicals, more than 2,000 newspapers and numerous dotcom companies.

In 2001, a total of 154,500 kinds of books were published on the Chinese mainland.

Last year, the China National Publications Import & Export (Group) Corporation set "Copyright Trading" as the theme of the Ninth Beijing International Book Fair.

Zhu said the book fair, which is the most renowned in Asia and one of the biggest in the world, will continue to act as a venue for copyright trading this year.

(China Daily March 10, 2003)