The number of digital readers in China reached 670 million last year, marking a 17.52 percent year-on-year increase, according to a report released on Wednesday at the Fourth National Conference on Reading in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

"The growth of digital readers can be attributed to the rapid increase in users closely related to the intellectual property derivatives and peripheral services within the online literature industry," said Zhang Yijun, first vice-chairman of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, at the conference.

Over the past five years, China has added 176 million digital readers, representing a growth rate of 35.63 percent, Zhang said. He added that digital reading is becoming a primary means for internet users in the country to acquire knowledge and inspiration in daily life.

According to the 2024 China Digital Reading Report, the total number of digital reading material in China reached approximately 63 million, a 6.31 percent increase over the previous year.

Among those works, online literature and e-books accounted for about 67.55 percent, while audio content made up the remaining 32.45 percent.

The overall revenue of China's reading market reached 66 billion yuan ($9.05 billion) last year, up 16 percent from the previous year, the report said.

It also highlighted strong growth in three key sectors of the digital publishing industry last year: mass reading, audio reading and academic reading. They generated revenues of more than 48.8 billion yuan, 12.4 billion yuan and 4.9 billion yuan, respectively.

Xu Jiahui, a 22-year-old postgraduate student in Shanxi, said he prefers e-reading for lighter content such as novels. For more challenging material like classics, he turns to print books.

The total number of Chinese digital reading materials that went global last year, including translations, overseas originals and e-books, reached 808,400, a 6 percent increase year-on-year.

Southeast Asia remained the top overseas market for Chinese digital reading for the second year in a row, surpassing North America, according to the report.

"In my country, you can see many books about China. Some introduce Chinese culture, such as tea culture, Spring Festival and traditional clothing, while others discuss Chinese history or economic development," said Ta Ngoc Huyen, a Vietnamese international student in China.

"I've seen books like General History of China in the library before, as well as Chinese textbooks for foreigners learning the language."

Cai Yanqing, an official at the Shanxi Provincial Library, said a diverse range of digital resources is now available to meet the needs of different readers. Audiobooks, for example, help elderly readers access content, while other resources are tailored to the visually impaired.

"Transcending time and space limitations, digital reading is becoming increasingly popular among various reader demographics," Cai said.

Yu Hang, chairman of China Mobile's digital content unit Migu, said online literature, web dramas and online games have become the new trio of digital content for cultural export, continuing to expand in overseas markets.

"AI technology has injected new momentum into various industries, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the digital reading sector in areas such as content creation, publishing integration and cultural dissemination," Yu said.

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