Specifying China – A primer for printing in China, Part 2

No place on Earth has produced more fundamental contributions to the development of printing than China. Paper, relief printing, and moveable type—the very foundations of the industry—all emerged from China beginning over 2000 years ago. Today, China is widely recognized as the best place for outsourcing printing services. In this blog series, we will share some tips and key references that will be useful to newbies and pros alike.

Paper Size and Weight
Due to differences in sheet sizes for standard paper in China, you may receive less competitive prices for 10′ x 10′ and 12′ x 10′ book sizes. Below is a chart for some book sizes (trimmed size) that may offer you more competitive results in China.

Standard paper weights vary between types of paper and brands of paper. Naturally, the standards between your country and China are not always the same. The chart below provides some standard China weights for a number of common paper types. For Americans, this is significant not only in terms of picking suitable weights, which is easy to procure in China, but also because China weights are metric-based and expressed in grams. Here we have included a rough conversion table in pounds as well as grams. For a more comprehensive paper basis weight conversion chart, please click here.

Money-Saving Tip:
It is nearly always possible to produce a non-standard paper weight and sheet size in accordance with your preferences and/or to optimize the job for lower costs. Batch paper production has a lead time of 2 or 3 weeks, but must be ordered at specific times each month. Therefore, you should plan your paper purchase at least 6 weeks before you begin print production.