The 2025 Publishing Imprint Influence Conference was held in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Thursday, bringing together publishers and experts to discuss the high-quality development of the publishing industry.

Wu Shulin, chairman of the Publishers Association of China, says China's publishing industry is currently at a critical stage of transitioning from "scale expansion" to "quality enhancement". Brand building has become a strategic approach to strengthening the nation's cultural soft power and boosting the industry's core competitiveness.

"For China's publishing industry to thrive and develop, it must be viewed within a global context. This requires influential brands that represent the unique characteristics of Chinese publishing to build strong domestic recognition and gradually expand onto the world stage," says Wu.

A report on the influence of China's publishing brands, covering last year and this year, was released during the conference, offering insights into current trends in publishers' brand-building efforts.

The conference also honored this year's influential publishers and publishing brands for the innovative spirit they demonstrated and the outstanding contributions they made in building brands, providing valuable experience for the wider industry.