A survey showed that the number of Chinese reading at least one
book a year has been declining dramatically, as Internet draws more
readers' attention from books.
The survey conducted every two years by the China Publishing
Research Center under the General Administration of Press and
Publication was released over the weekend to mark Sunday's 11th
World Book and Copyright Day.
Among 8,000 respondents to the poll undertaken last year, less
than 50 percent said that they read at least one book a year.
According to Monday's China Daily, the survey conducted
since 1999 found Chinese' inclination for reading went down year by
year. The reader ratio fell all the way down from 60.4 percent in
1999.
A lack of time has been cited by most respondents for the
reduction of reading. However, the time spent by Chinese on the
Internet has kept on increasing sharply from 3.7 percent in 1999 to
27.8 percent last year, the survey showed.
Hao Zhenxing, director of the center said that conventional
reading could never be replaced by scanning the web media.
Statistics from the center suggested that more books are at
readers' choice now, as the number of books published swelled from
14,987 varieties in 1978 to 208,294 in 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2006)
