China Briefing Magazine Moves to Pay For View

Posted by Reading Time: 3 minutes

BEIJING, Feb. 8 – Following ten years of providing China Briefing Magazine on a complimentary basis – including printing of some 50,000 copies a month – the magazine along with the India Briefing and Vietnam Briefing magazines in the Asia Briefing roster is moving to a pay for view basis.

The move is explained by publisher Chris Devonshire-Ellis: “We have provided a complimentary and highly technical service for the past decade to foreign investors in China, during which time the title has developed a sound reputation as a market leader in its field.”

“However, to continue to grow and develop, and in order to provide future quality product in terms of technical legal, tax and operational issues in China, the time has come for China Briefing now to generate more of its own stand alone income. The costs of continuing to provide the magazine for free and maintain quality are just too great for it to continue to be functional as a complimentary publication. We have researched the matter and concluded a fair and achievable price is US$10 per issue, which still remains low given the content and the consistency of research. ”

“In our opinion it is now not possible to continue to provide quality and accurate legal or tax information that truly address the complexities of business here either in magazine format or online without some source of income. The days of free, quality information available either on the web or in print media forms are drawing to a close. Quality readers require quality product and it is our intention to deliver that.”

He adds, “While we expect some subscribers to pull away and cease downloading the magazine, we are confident enough in the majority of our readers that they will continue to support what has become a valuable resource. Our popular portfolio of China Briefing books have proved readers will support our products and while we regret the need to impose a download charge, rest assured this allows us to continue to provide high quality and the most updated information through the monthly magazine as well.”

While the magazine will now be available by pay for view, China Briefing will still continue to provide online news and intelligence service for free. The Asia Briefing bookstore will also continue to contain complimentary down loads of certain books, guides and related material as has always been the case.

The next complimentary download will be on Hunchun City, in Jilin Province, a key hub for investment into North Korea and Russia from China. This guide will appear on this site tomorrow.

The pay for download system affects all China Briefing Magazines including the archives and the new issue, commencing with the February download “Closing Representative Offices and Liquidating Businesses in China.” The publishing house, Asia Briefing Media Ltd. has also produced books and guides for the United States Commercial Service and United Nations, among others.  As an example of the ongoing need for research, China Briefing’s managing editor is currently in Mongolia attending the Mongolian Economic Forum of great interest to multinational and Chinese businesses wanting to invest in the country’s mining operations.

Devonshire-Ellis says: “We thank all our magazine readers for their support for the past ten years and trust they will understand the reasons for the change. We will however endeavor to ensure the China Briefing title remains one of the premium sources of reliable China business, legal and tax information.”

Clients of Dezan Shira & Associates, the foreign direct investment practice that writes the Asia Briefing series may still access China Briefing and related other magazines for free, via a log-in system on the firm’s website. Clients may email info@dezshira.com to obtain log-in details or contact their account manager.