Friday, November 30, 2012

In China, 25 Million People Use Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books


By Peter Osnos - The Atlantic -  Nov 27 2012, 


Mobile reading may revive entire genres of literature, such as mid-length novels and poems, which have fallen out of favor.

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Reuters

On vacation in China earlier this month, I stopped by Shanghai's seven-story downtown "Book City," bustling with activity on a weekday afternoon that, as a publisher, I found exceptionally gratifying. Perusing the ground floor front tables I saw stacks of copies in Chinese reflecting the multiple interests Chinese readers have in American themes. Days after the U.S. elections, books about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were featured. I noted a translation of George W. Bush's presidential memoir, Decision Points, and Henry Kissinger's recent bestseller, On China. Whether any of these were "adapted" (i.e., censored) for the Chinese audience, I can't say, but they were certainly prominently available. Basketball biographies are clearly big sellers, including Linsanity, about Jeremy Lin, last season's Taiwanese-American star for the New York Knicks. And a book by Harvard medical school professors, Positive Psychology, was billed as "cracking the secret of happiness."
Among the fiction books, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling's adult novel, Casual Vacancy,is evidently so recognizable that the Chinese version carries its name in English and has the same jacket as the American edition. 
Full article at The Atlantic

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