An interview with Bridge21 Publications on Chinese scholarly publishing.docVIP

An interview with Bridge21 Publications on Chinese scholarly publishing 　　Bridge21 is an American publisher founded in 2011 with the goal to overcome knowledge gaps between Western and Asian cultures. It focuses on scholarly publications in areas of humanities and social sciences. After the 2014 Beijing International Book Fair， I had the honor of meeting with the president and the executive editor of Bridge21 Publications， Dr. Gregory Kaplan and Dr. Matthias Wahls. Both of them are veterans in scholarly publishing with China as a business focus. 　　According to Dr. Kaplan， through his regular contact with both Chinese leading scholarly publishers and scholars he’s visited personally， he and the team have witnessed the publication of some books so far， covering a wide range of topics in philosophy， anthropology， literature， art， media， intellectual history， higher education， and business. The books are for a wide readership， ranging from university libraries to high-ups in relevant industries. As for the authors of the books， the most important scholars in China are always most preferable. In this regard， the Chinese publisher of the book could be a reference for the academic importance of the Chinese scholars， as those at the very high end of the leading publishers like the Peking University Press and the Tsinghua University Press will always be able to attract top scholars in Mainland China. 　　It can be seen that humanities and social sciences are highly sought after in Chinese academia， even by academics who do not specialize in those areas but maintain a healthy interest， Dr. Wahls further points out that arts and culture subjects have long-term value. Of course， the unavoidable cultural gap means that the readers of books on those subjects are by and large highly educated. And even highly educated readers need ample time to digest such content. Dr. Wahls also gives the example of traditional Chinese poetry， which requires a high level of difficulty in tran