24 | FORBES ASIA AUGUST 2017T
o Yuwei Pan, a regular fix of Chinese novels on her
smartphone makes her daily commute a pleasure. But
these aren’t just normal stories. Chinese e-books are
often serialized; readers wait for the latest chapters of
a story, much like viewers catch up with the newest episodes of
Game of Thrones.
They also provide an interactive reading experience, where
readers and writers can discuss and codevelop the plot. “I turn to
Kindle for serious books, but I go to Chinese online literature for
imagination, fun and freedom,” Pan says.
The 21-year-old student is one of more than 330 million read-
ers of Chinese online literature. Mostly under 30, they favor genres
like fantasy, wuxia (stories about heroes and martial arts), science
fiction, mystery and romance. And it’s only going to get bigger—
the market has grown by more than 20% annually since 2012 to
RMB9 billion ($1.3 billion), according to the publicity department
of the Beijing Municipal Committee.
China Literature, Tencent’s subsidiary and the country’s larg-
est online publishing company, recently filed to go public in Hong
Kong, aiming to raise as much as $800 million for potential acqui-
sitions and mobile service expansion, Reuters reported. “If the at-
tempt succeeds, it will demonstrate investors’ confidence in the
online publishing industry,” says Huang Guofeng, a senior interac-
tive entertainment analyst at Analysys, an internet big-data service
provider. “It will turn around the bad impression—people used to
believe that online literature was full of piracy and couldn’t gener-
ate any profit.”
In their application for an IPO, China Literature disclosed rev-
enue of $384 million, up 59.1% from 2015—a rate of growth more
than double that of Amazon, which has its own e-book platform,
the Kindle Store.
The two giants of the online publishing business both have ad-
vantages in certain areas. According to its company reports, China
Literature has more books than the Kindle Store (8.4 million ver-
sus 6.9 million) but fewer writers (5.3 million versus 14 million).
The Chinese company enjoys a readership of 175.3 million, whilethe total number of Amazon account holders is just over 300 mil-
lion (Amazon does not share figures for the number of Kindle
Store users). China Literature launched its first e-reader in June at
a price similar to the Kindle Paperwhite. However, less than 500
devices have been sold, according to Tmall.com, China’s B2C on-
line retail site. Most people use their own smartphone.
Unlike the Kindle Store, which is essentially a platform sell-
ing digital versions of mainstream paper books, China Literature
has “everything in the virtual sphere,” says Shao Yanjun, an associ-
ate professor at Peking University’s Chinese department. “It is the
habitat of pure internet culture, where writers create content on-
line. Platforms publish novels online—fans gather, read and share
stories online.”
The interactive experience of China Literature is another main
differentiator—most of its content is serialized, which means writ-
ers will often publish work chapter by chapter, sometimes altering
plotlines based on suggestions from users. And it’s the discussion
forum, which sits alongside the main story, that Pan enjoys most.
She remembers a time when many fellow readers wanted two
main characters in a novel to become romantically involved. Even-
tually the author wrote this into the plot. “Serialized works banish
the sense of loneliness,” Pan says. “When reading on Kindle, you
are facing a single terminal. When reading Chinese online novels,
you are engaging with a community.”
For many, Chinese online literature facilitates freedom of writ-
ing and reading. “It is the simplified version of grassroots democ-
racy,” says Shao. “Its legitimacy originates from the realization of
people’s desire.” Bearing this in mind, it won’t be surprising to dis-
cover that a typical story line on China Literature would be similar
to the Tw i lig ht tale—an apparent nobody, like Bella Swan, achieves
an enviable life at the end.
But China’s rigorous censorship of the media means this free-
dom only goes so far—a fact that is not lost on publishers. “China
Literature has a developed content control system,” says Analysys’
Huang. “In order to get works promoted and contracted, writers
will self-censor.”Serial Pleasure
BY JINSHAN HONGChina’s online reading craze is so big it’s challenging Amazon’s Kindle.
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