Photo by Zhao Bing/CFP
important. Currently, most devices fail to offer a user-friendly reading experience,” said Hao Sijia, executive general manager of Founder Apabi Technology, a leading digital publishing technology and service provider in China. Even the iPad, which can perform similar e-reading functions to Amazon’s Kindle, is only used as an e-reader by about 20 percent of its total users in China. Hao believed that if e-reader developers could make their devices more similar to real paper books by making them foldable and less tiring on the eyes, people might be more willing to embrace digital reading. Still, many in the industry believe that it is simply a matter of time before electronic content dominates the entire market for the delivery of literature. Yu Jing is quietly confident about the future; she said that while numbers remain modest, people have certainly begun reading more complex, long-form content on digital devices lately, and the industry needs to be patient. “People who demand this material still don’t necessarily know much about e-reading. Also it may take a few years for the younger, more tech-savvy generation to shift their reading habits towards more serious content. After NEWSCHINA I December 2011
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a few years in the world of work, they may feel the urge to expand their knowledge and improve themselves,” she said. While demand may not be a problem, the market faces various other challenges. Piracy, for one, causes deep concern. “Of course, the piracy problem also exists in the paper book market, but in the digital publishing sector, it is much more of a threat,” said Hao Sijia. “Generally, publishers are reluctant to enter digital publishing.” The reluctance can be seen in the lag between the publication time of a paper title and its corresponding e-book, which can be anything from a few months to a year. Hao told our reporter that only 20 to 30 percent of the paper books published after January 1, 2011 in China have had digital versions released. Anti-piracy law and its implementation need to catch up with the technological leaps being made in the industry, said Hao Zhensheng, president of the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication. “The existing laws are clearly lagging behind the pace of digital publishing. Revisions and improvement of these laws are greatly needed. At the same time, copyright licensing
Photo by Wu Dangcai/CFP
Above, a reader checks the stacks at a second-hand book market in Beijing, September 9, 2011; Below, a local newspaper in Wuhan launches its electronic edition in November 2006
needs to be better regulated, so as to provide a basic protection of the interests of both the copyright owners and publishers.” While the digital reading industry still has one or two practical glitches to work out, the pace of technological innovation remains one step ahead of the consumer, and looks poised to exploit the huge potential on the horizon. With distributors lining up to give consumers exactly what they want in whatever format they demand, China’s digital bookworms may find themselves spoiled for choice before long.
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