Get ready to turn the page on a very special day.
World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated annually on April 23rd, and it is here, and we are taking a look at the industry as it seems to be starting a new chapter.
Here in China, a number of bookstores and sellers have really bumped up their live streaming events.
After that, the issue of spanking as a disciplinary method is a very divisive one.
Advocates often cite its perceived effectiveness in deterring unwanted behavior.
But opponents, they raise concerns about its potential to inflict both physical and psychological harm on children.
Even in 2025, it remains a hot issue, and we'll discuss it today.
We are live from Beijing.
This For this Roundtable, I'm Steve, and for today's show, Yehonglin and YuXun are with me.
First on the program.
April 23rd marks World Book and Copyright Day.
Here in China, a recent report revealed that the number of publishing houses and bookstores launching bookselling live -streaming activities on a short video platform has increased significantly, and new technologies have transformed bookselling and reading in general.
Live streaming. It allows authors and booksellers to connect directly with readers and showcase new releases, and that helps to boost sales and engagement.
The rise of ebooks and audiobooks and online platforms. They have also made literature more accessible.
Catering to diverse preferences and expanding the reach of books.
So how is live streaming and tech change the way we read or buy books, and are we still reading books and buying books?
We're gonna dig into the stats today.
It is World Book Day.
What's your favorite book of all time if you have one?
I do have one My favorite book is probably the one that I read during my childhood I would say and that yeah left me like very deep memories caught wolf totem Long through time.
Yes, it's you were waiting for a response from me.
I don't know You will have to tell me.
Yeah, it is a kind of a story that is telling a young intellectual sent to an inner Mongolian grasslands and the story portrays the lives of nomadic people in the 1960s and 70s as well as their like complex relationship with the grassland wolves.
So the story basically conveys the values such as freedom, independence, strength and spirit of competition by depicting the image of wolves in the story.
Yeah. How old were you when you read that book?
In my primary school.
And it still sticks with you today?
Yes. Why did you love it so much?
Actually the first impression to me was a wolf on the coverage of the book and we were like our teacher was telling us to pick your favorite book and i was thinking why not this one it because it got a lot of pictures and you know saying the story of i i'm a person that really like you know human and nature that kind of stuff so yeah i picked this one very nice neil Honglin do you have one yes actually my all -time favorite also i encountered with that book when i was young also in primary school later primary school and then middle school.
I read it very so many times and it's still something that belongs to my leisure reading.
I still read it once a while.
It's kind of like it sits on my bedside and it's there all the time and whenever I want to I'll just pick it up and turn to any page.
I do not even choose a chapter or anything.
I turn to any page and start reading because I know the plot.
I know it so well and even in my teenage years, I was able to recite certain paragraphs.
And also within the book, there are certain poems, I can recite almost all the poems I remember them.
And the book name is A Dream of Red Mentions.
It's one of the four classics here in China.
And it depicts the rise magic love story of the main characters.
The interesting thing about the book is that whenever you read it, you find a part that you can relate to so deeply, and it has something to do with your current status.
When I was a little girl, I was so much moved by the love story in the book, the love story element in the book.
Later on, when I thought I was not, but I thought I was sophisticated and I understand the society and I get to see the side of the story reflecting the historic time at that time.
And I understand the tragic, I understand the people living in suppression and how hard they fight against fate yet it doesn't really work for them because the environment is much more powerful.
but now all these days, I get to enjoy the writing styles and sometimes I see tiny little plot of the story and I see how people behave in their ways because of their status because of the relations That's really cool because years It's like when you look at a painting the first time you look at it You might see one thing if you look at it the tenth time you might see something completely different That's what that was for you I think that's why it is one of the four classics because you can have different reflections when you're having different understandings towards life.
Yes, and I think books are just something very significant and influential in everybody's life.
Which is why we have April 23rd as World Book and Copyright Day.
Before we get to the stats from here in China and check in with the industry, Yuxin, tell us a little bit of the background behind this special day.
Uh -huh, first of all, the theme of this year's World Book and Copyright Day is reading A Bridge to the Future, so unlike all of the books that we recommended about the past, it's, you know, A Bridge to the Future is the theme.
And also, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, established 23rd of April as World Book and Copyright Day in 1995.
It got its start long before that in Spain.
In 1995, the UNESCO General Conference decided to pay homage to authors and books worldwide as a way of encouraging everyone to access books.
And annually, since 2001, one city around the world is chosen to be the UNESCO World Book Capital for a year.
And the selected city is tasked with carrying out activities over its year -long designation to encourage a culture of reading and defusing its values in all ages and population groups in and out of the national borders.
So, this year UNESCO announced Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, as the World Book Capital of 2025.
Yeah, I saw that they chose Rio as the book capital for this year because they have a lot of emphasis on literary heritage And then they promote sustainable publishing and youth literacy There as well.
Thanks for that. Alright, so let's dig in a little bit.
Let's come back to China So live -streaming and book selling have become business partners in a way Yes, actually here in China.
We do see that according to a recent report by Chongqing -based Shengyu News.
Livestreaming e -commerce has become a new engine for promoting the book selling and reading behavior among young people in China.
They are just one part of these kind of trend of promoting and influencing and also encouraging people to read more.
Every year, in fact, book reading day, or in Chinese we call it book reading day, though in the beginning it has something to do with copyrights, more or less, but here in China it's more about encourage people to read more, which is why nationwide in all different places there are book reading activities, there are lectures inviting authors to talk to readers directly, there are activities allowing different technologies to help people better find the book they need.
And here we see the short video platform activity based on Douying In this platform, they published a report on its book consumption in the first quarter of 2005 on April 21st. These numbers are impressive!
Yes, because the report shows that the platform sold over 3 million books every day!
Goodness me! In the first quarter.
Jeff Bezos got jealous somewhere when he saw those numbers.
And this is the new side of things, right?
Because I'm not sure about China, but in the West it was very common, and it still happens these days for independent bookstores or bigger bookstores chains to invite authors and have a meet and greet with their fans and readings and things like that but the live streaming aspect of things is still relatively new.
Yeah I think instead of all of these meeting or meeting up activities these kind of live streaming are giving the opportunity for both the and the readers a chance to basically a Chat and communicate more directly and it is becoming the trend because it is not only a way for these book shops to sell books but also offering the opportunity as I said you know more and more publishers and booksellers will like to Directly communicate with readers and recommend books in first quarter the number of book live streaming sales on this short video platform, Doyin increased by 45 % year on year.
And their time of bookselling live streaming activities grew by 61 % year on year.
And the average daily book sales value via live streaming increased on that platform by 56 % in the first quarter as well.
These are numbers that say, this is a great idea.
We see live streaming help publishers transform with the live streaming transaction revenue of over 50 publishers doubling year on year, and the number of users who purchased books increased by 130 % on the platform year on year.
This is actually happening because I did many of my hard copy books purchasing because of the short video platform.
You've made a purchase through this platform or another platform?
two or three. I think just within the first quarter of 2025.
Did you do that through a live streaming event?
I think one was through a live streaming event and two were only through the short video I watched.
And the thing is, we all have the drive to read more and we do want to absorb knowledge or enjoy a little bit of entertainment, leisure reading.
And the thing for me is that I do not know which book to buy.
I do not know which one will.
And also that - But that's the fun of it though, isn't it?
It can be the fun of it, until you just don't want to spend the time doing it.
But having it right in front of you from someone you trust, because you like the one who's doing the live streaming or like the one you think, this person's got really good taste and you would want to trust his or her recommendation.
Yeah. My favorite comment that I ever got about buying new books came from a university student of mine when I was teaching in Korea.
And I asked, why do you love bookstores?
I asked the group, why do you love bookstores?
And one student, she raised her hand and she said, when I walk into a bookstore, I feel like all the books are mine.
And I thought, Oh, that's a great answer.
And it just goes to show that people have different styles too.
Some people want recommendations and some just enjoy the atmosphere of being in and around books albeit in a store or online.
So Yushen, what are people buying?
What types of books are people buying these days?
A recent report by Yangtze Evening News, the top five best -selling book categories in live -streaming are teaching aids, children's books, social sciences, newspapers, and magazines.
Quite light -hearted I would say most of them, right?
Easy to read. And also literature.
And this year is the Healthy Weight Management year.
Yeah, this is kind of a.
I can't wait to hear the increase in sales on diet or exercise related books.
This kind of a national campaign, I think boosts the sales of something like sports books.
And these are selling well in live streaming rooms and platforms. In the first quarter, the sales volume of sports books increased by 468 percent year on year.
Yeah it's the year, what did you call it healthy weight management year?
Next year it will be sales of sports and diet related books decreased by 468 percent year on year.
Hopefully people will keep the habit of you know...
When we're talking about live streaming maybe it's fair maybe it's not fair for me to assume that young people might be leading the charge in terms of online sales?
Would that be accurate or are we finding mixed numbers there?
Well, those born in the 1990s contributed to 50 % of the live streaming book purchase orders on GoIn in the first quarter, and those born in the 2000s show a growing enthusiasm enthusiasm in book consumption via live streaming and it is actually representing a surge of 206 % year -on -year surge in their book purchase expenditures so yes I think the younger generations are buying books through live streaming a little more.
Yeah it's great to see isn't it, have you ever heard of BookTok?
It's kind of a subcategory on tiktok and it's where people will go on there and just talk about the books that they're reading and why they love the books and the authors and what have you.
And this is where social media has really played a positive role in getting young people involved in reading.
I wouldn't say that, but perhaps reinvigorating their enthusiasm for reading.
Because I think we all know that our school days can, of course, we all have to read a lot of books, right?
And for some kids, that can kind of take the fun and the passion out of book reading.
So to have an online community like that, to reintroduce that passion, I just think is a really, really great thing.
There are movies. Now, Nejatuh, it's reach, knows no limits.
How is Nejatuh connected to the book industry?
Yeah. I think, as you said, not only these short video platforms, These new media forums are trying to give people the opportunity to get to or interest people to buy more books or read more books.
With the soaring box office revenue of Neuja 2, the sales volume of books related to Neuja also surged in these live -streaming platforms. The accumulated sales of such books reached 120 ,000 sets from January 29 to February 5, in 2025.
That's impressive, that's not the only movie having an impact though, right?
There are other ones?
Yes. Actually Wang Tiye -mei is the main female character in a 2004 popular feminism -themed comedy named Her Story.
And she recommended a book entitled, a titled Invisible Women Data Bias in a World designed for Men in her live streaming in the movie.
And according to a recent article published by the platform who showed the marketing editor of the production company of the movie reviewed that before the debut of the movie, the monthly sales volume of this book dropped to one or 2000 copies after the movie was released the sales of the book increased several times through the collaboration with the production company so basically what happened is that because of the showing of the book in the movie people are interested about the book.
Yeah right and I think that might be one of the challenges for books in general isn't it is that you don't often get to even know that they're out there.
That's my point previously is that I don't know what kind of research to do to find exactly the book I know I love.
But with the help of technology, of live streaming platforms, short video platforms, I get to trust that I found a good book because I trust those who recommended it.
Yeah. And when you use a movie, for example, Naja 2, then the people who are interested in the books are interested in the books because they've already fallen in love with the character, right?
Or with characters or the storyline or what have you.
And I think why two these live streaming events are so successful is when the customer can put a face or a voice or something to the book, there's a greater advantage there.
When we walk into a bookstore, yes, they are wonderful places, there's no question about that, but yet we don't have any emotional connection necessarily to a book that we might be looking to purchase.
But if we see a face through a live stream, if we can leave a comment and get someone to respond to that, Then it makes us all the more inclined, I think, to make that purchase.
On top of that, we all complain, sometimes, most of the times, complain about algorithm, putting us in an information cocoon, not allowing us to get access to the kind of data that we're not familiar with, but it has its upside, plus side, that is once I've followed a blogger or someone who's create, well, creator of short video who is basically concentrating on reading articles and recommending books, more and more of these kind of creators pop up on my page.
So I would be able to like them, follow them, and get into the community I would love to get into.
And that is why I think algorithm helped me a lot in this sense.
Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it.
All right, I'll give you a quiz question.
In the United States book market what do you think is more popular these days?
E -readers or physical book readers?
E -readers. Yeah, me too.
I'll go with that. Ah, interesting to know this.
By 2029, the global physical book market is projected to serve approximately 1 .9 billion readers.
That's globally. E -reader users are expected to reach 1 .2 billion by 2027.
The US market demonstrates a continued preference for print books with almost 770 million units sold in 2023.
That really surprised me in one sense, but in another sense it didn't.
It surprised me because of people's digital preferences these days, but I found it nice to know because there's something romantic about holding a book in your hands.
Don't you think so?
Physically turning from one page to the next, that's how I prefer to read.
Yes, I understand your sentiment, but I do not have that big a room or space in my home.
That's the problem.
That is why, yeah, I turn to e -books more.
Especially when sometimes, you know, physical books can be even more expensive than an e -book version.
Sure. Yeah. I wonder if it's challenging for physical bookstores to compete, then, these days because even still physical books, you can still buy those online too, right?
Yes. Here in China, we see more and more physical books finding new ways to expand their consumer base.
On top of selling books, we see most of the very successful book stores have different strategies.
Some would offer coffee, as well as a space to read in the bookstore.
Yeah, cafe bookstores.
Some offer lectures that invite different types of authors into the bookstore so that readers can feel that they're attending activities on top of just purchasing for books.
So many different strategies here in China.
Yeah. And one thing I would like to mention is that a report released by the China publishing Association shows that the retail book marketing China of course it's reached a like astonishing one hundred twelve point nine billion yuan that's about fifteen point four billion US dollars in 2024 but in terms of sales channels as we discussed all kinds of ecommerce platforms accounted for 86 % of the total Wow oh wow yeah physical bookstores made up only fourteen percent yeah and in the this is from the American Booksellers Association.
The number of independent bookstores has doubled since 2016, but it's still not that large a number, there's only about 2 ,400 nationwide.
It is a bit of a resurgence, but there is one particular company, starting with the letter A that sells books online, that absolutely dominates the ebook sales, is about 67 % come from that particular platform.
Where does AI fit into this?
or short everywhere everywhere I'm just wondering what the influence could possibly be here I actually wanted to mention this when we're talking about the influence of live streaming on the books the cells of the books actually one another point is that when we are seeing these live -streamings and after that it is can be even more influential because it can be cutting to even shorter videos to be the ads for a lot of these books.
I remember one example is that I think that this Japanese, a famous Japanese writer, who had a, you know, live streaming with another commentator and after that they had a huge discussion on this particular book.
I cannot remember the name of the books or the English name of the writer.
But the short videos after that live streaming actually sparked a huge discussion as well and popularity.
And it also raised the sales of this particular book very much. So this is becoming a new I think trend that people are using new ways of promoting books and bookstores are using these kind of new ways to promote the sales of the books.
And when we talk about AI's role in book reading, AI is doing everything from recommending books in a lot of libraries and bookstores.
Here in China, there are services allowing readers to answer a couple of questions and engage with the AI chat bot in the library so that the bot would recommend the books it thinks that you would enjoy, the readers would enjoy.
And besides that, if you're reading a book and you do not really have time for the entire book, what you can do is resort to AI assistant.
There are different types of AI assistants here in the Chinese market.
There is Kimi chat, this one is good at reading up to 200 ,000 words and give you a summary of it.
Oh really? And also there's Follow Us AI.
It allows you to put in all of the documents and books you want and it can answer questions according to the information precisely you give them without searching the entire internet.
So this would be done for homework purposes?
Or this would be done for the average reader's enjoyment?
It depends on what kind of questions you ask?
I think there's also another AI allowing you to automatically come up with a summarize of the book or anything that you put in there.
And this one can actually search the information you need to compare the information that it finds on the internet with the information of the book you give.
And there's another one allowing you to even without sending the book to the online server of the AI bot, but to save it in your own computer.
So, later, even if you do not have access to the internet, you can still read it and use it and find information you need.
So AI is everywhere.
Yeah, it is, and there was a report from an outlet here in China.
WeChat reading showed that the average time spent per page by users with a book has decreased from 72 seconds in 2015, so just over a minute or so, per page to...
19 seconds per page.
Yeah. How? People don't have the patience they used to have to read books.
Maybe people are employing speed reading techniques now that they've learned.
But this is a trend, and those short form videos introducing books is kind of going with that trend, because you take a few seconds to introduce the book as opposed to perhaps, I don't know, someone talking about the book for seven minutes in a video, people don't want to watch that length anymore.
Guess what? There are also creators producing videos as long as 20 minutes and 40 minutes.
They are, I'm following them, and what they do is to find out the best chapter in the book and just read it, just read the entire chapter.
Oh really? And there are different kinds, definitely.
You can choose the one.
I don't like that one.
But I think another thing you may like is the integration of AI and text -to -voice technology.
Now these AIs can read your books so authentically, and it sounds really authentic, that it sounds like a real person reading for you.
Yeah, we don't like that idea either.
Okay. that's not our favorite for the industry we work in.
All right so I think Niu -Hong Lin, do you have a couple of events that are happening around that you'd like to share?
All right before I ask you that though, I want to convince non -readers to become readers.
There are advantages for your brain when you read.
Number one, it strengthens your brain.
A 2013 study out of Emory University measured readers' MRI scans as they read a book and they found that the deeper readers went into the story, the more areas of their brain activated.
And even more surprisingly, that brain activity stayed elevated for several days after they finished reading the book.
The more you read, the stronger these complex networks in your brain, the activity, the stronger they become.
Not convinced yet? I'll give you just one more.
There was a 2009 study conducted at Sussex University that showed that reading reduces your stress levels by up to 68%.
And you don't need to spend 3 hours a day reading a book.
In as little as 6 minutes of being immersed in those pages, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure lowers, and your muscles begin to relax.
What more evidence do you need?
Become a reader, everybody, when you're listening to Roundtable.
Before we finish up, Honglin, what's happening around the country for book day?
Or a lot. In most of the universities here in China, people celebrate the World Reading Day or Book Day.
They have a lot of different activities happening in the campus throughout the entire month, instead of just this one day.
I believe that in one university there are also activities allowing people to act as their favorite character in a book, generate pictures of AI with their understanding and or their imagination about the book, and having their people post -guess what book it represents.
Making a game out of it.
Yes, and they even have handicraft kind of activities, allowing them to find the research from a certain book and try to replicate the artifact in the book or described in the book and make it real in the real world.
Ah, make it interactive too.
Yes, very much interactive and in other places including libraries, in different communities there are the kind of activities we talked about, inviting authors to the crowd so they can have an interaction.
One of my favorite one actually also happened in here in Beijing that is to design 40 -something reading routes of tourism so they tell you where to go from one destination to another and which book you should be reading in Which sections so that I think that is also a quite interesting combination That's lots of fun.
Pick up a book and read a book if there's any day to do it today would be that day
