The year 2022 is coming to an end in time as an extraordinary year. With the blockage of viruses, war, and politics, the pace of the global economy, globalization, and international interaction are slowing down. These become the collective impressions and personal realities of life presented to us in 2022.

This is the third year COVID-19 continuously attacked us. As the virus transformed into the Omicron phase, the Chinese government decided to end the "zero policy" at the end of the year. Like the rest of the world, the Chinese people are already planning their travel plans for the Spring Festival and winter school break, as the uneasiness of living with the virus unleashes a desire and enthusiasm for a new life.

This year, war clouds continued to form over Russia and Ukraine. People all over the world are praying for the war to end as soon as possible. Although there is no news of a truce in the current situation, people cannot stop looking forward to a return to peace in 2023.

At this moment, even in the bitter winter, the sun is still shining on the earth. We believe the blocked hearts look forward to the interaction and mutual trust through communication.

Therefore, in this extraordinary last few days of 2022, Bookdao, an information service provider for the publishing and book industry in China, is releasing the first issue of its book industry biweekly in English. We have named it Bookdao Outlook, expressing and sharing the Bookdao perspectives and observations to a global circle of friends in the book industry. It may not portray the complete picture of the development of China's publishing and book industry, but it will do its best to outline some small pieces of the Chinese puzzle of this industry with information, interviews, data and analysis, book lists, etc. If, as a result, foreign colleagues can enhance their understanding of China's book industry and their partners in China, the mission of this e-newsletter will have been achieved.

The Bookdao Outlook will be sent to subscribers via email biweekly and will be available on our website at bookdao.com. We expect this communication to be a two-way street, and if each message from the transmitter brings feedback from the recipient, this is perhaps the greatest joy of our editors.

Sincerely,

Yanhong Kong

CEO of Bookdao.com

Beijing, Dec 23, 2022