Severe flooding in north China has caused significant damage to major book warehouses in Zhuozhou, a crucial logistic and storage hub for the domestic publishing industry in Hebei Province, near Beijing.
Following the loss, many publishers have announced delay in book deliveries for all customers of between 10 to 15 days, and the clean-up process is expected to last at least a month. More than 100 publishers have there warehouses in Zhuozhou.
One of China's earliest online book retailers, bookschina.com, announced on the Twitter-like Weibo that its major warehouses storing more than 4 million units of books were flooded, with a few staff members temporarily trapped inside the facilities.
China Media Time, a private book retailing company with a large and diverse readership in China, also revealed that 3.6 million units of books in storage were "all devastated," with an estimated financial loss potentially exceeding 200 million yuan (US$27.86 million).
