This Day, That Year

Item from Feb 16, 1987, in China Daily: Bookworms swarm the newly expanded Foreign Languages Bookstore, which opened yesterday on Wangfujing Street in Beijing.

The store sells both domestically published and imported books, and also claims the country’s largest collection of foreign-language and music cassettes and records. …

Chinese reading habits have changed with the onset of new media.

The traditional paper book no longer appeals to young readers, who are always hooked to their mobile devices such as smartphones and electronic readers.

These devices allow them to access any material easily, further reducing the attractiveness of paper books.

Still more Chinese are now reading, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication last year.

In 2015, people, on average, read eight books, three of them in digital format, it said.

In the same year, the rate of adult reading rose to nearly 80 percent, many of them choosing digital content.

The report also showed that the proportion of people reading on digital platforms rose from 24.5 percent in 2015 to 64 percent last year.

From a global perspective, sales of paper books are on a rebound.

In 2014, the number of books sold went up by 2.4 percent from the previous year, according to market researcher Nielsen BookScan.