In author words, China’s the champ
Today is World Book Day, so China should stand up and take a well-deserved bow for being the undisputed global champion of online authorship.
With traditional printed page publishing rapidly disappearing across the planet, Chinese authors have seized the dragon by the tail by introducing millions of foreign readers to homegrown literature, spearheaded by two translated sites: Wuxia World and Gravity Tales.
That’s in addition to the more than 350 million domestic online readers, whose top preferences range from history and romance to sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and wuxia (stories about heroes and martial arts).
With tens of thousands of writers making regular con- tributions to China’s online literary gold mine, the market has grown by more than 20 percent annually since 2012, hitting 9 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in 2016, according to the Publicity Department of the Beijing Committee of the Communist Party of China.
The overseas market has likewise exploded, with upwards of 5 million readers from more than 100 nations logging onto Wuxia World and Gravity Tales every month.
Equally laudable is the overwhelming evidence that China is embracing the adage that in order to write good reading you must read good writing. As the number of online authors steadily increases, so too does their own consumption of the nation’s literary smorgasbord.
According to the latest annual survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, adults here read an average of about eight books in 2017, while youngsters in the 14-17 age group polished off nearly 12 titles. Many of those readers are now posting their own prose online.
The survey correlated 18,666 samples from 29 provincial-level administrations nationwide and determined that 67.5 percent of urban Chinese “regularly” read books last year, along with 49.3 percent of the rural population. And while nearly three out of four adult readers (73 percent) did most of their reading online, no appreciable decline in the popularity of printed books was indicated.
Numbers aside, perhaps the most tangible evidence that China is a global leader in promoting reading was the nation’s first law on public libraries, which was enacted by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in November and took effect on Jan 1.
The law requires governments at the county level or higher to establish book repositories that provide reading spaces and services to the public, free of charge.
They must also organize public lectures, activities to promote literary awareness and other public cultural services.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China had nearly 3,200 public libraries, which received more than 647 million visitors in 2016. And as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the National Library of China is preparing to build an international library alliance that will see Chinese libraries opened in participating countries.
All of this bodes well for China’s continued presence at the forefront of promoting international understanding through reading and writing — which only befits a nation whose president is also an acclaimed best-selling author.