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Tracking number: ICA-3-11192
Taiwan as a Borderland in the Flow of Culture:
Globalization and the Book Market
1. Introduction
The research in this paper demonstrates the way in which the globalization process
influences the publishing industry in Taiwan while crossing national boundaries. It
focuses on Taiwanese publishing in the global market, as well as on the publishing
industry in other countries which have gained access to the Taiwanese market.
Within this context, the paper focuses on four areas: first, the cultural flow in the
publishing industry; second, globalization and language; third, the process of
production in the global market; and fourth, publishing and technology.
The key areas which this paper intends to examine are: the publishing industry,
cultural flows, globalization, and the new technology in the context of Taiwan.
1.1 The Aim of the Paper
We would explore whether the globalization process effects changes in the publishing
industry in Taiwan, and if so, how it does so, and in what ways these changes are
related to cultural elements. Starting with interviews with booksellers in Taiwan, this
paper examines their strategies for the global market and their efforts to appeal to
local markets. On the basis of the development of the publishing industry in Taiwan,
this paper outlines the changes in the publishing industry in the broader context of the
globalization process, so as to contribute to ongoing theoretical debates, as well as to
draw some conclusions from the practical fieldwork.
1.2 Why the Publishing Industry?
The reason that the publishing industry was selected as the area of this paper is that it
represents an enduring medium for conveying changes in cultural elements in the
modern world, which in turn are often closely linked to cultural, political and socio-
economic factors.
1.3 Why Globalization?
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