What books do young people like to read
——Analysis of “Generation Z Digital Reading Report”
Guangming Daily reporter Yan Weiqi
At present, young people represented by Generation Z (generally referring to the post-95 generation) are the main force of digital reading, and digital reading is also one of the main ways for Generation Z to acquire knowledge and cultivate reading habits. Recently, Shanghai Library, China Press and Publishing Radio and Television News and China Literature Group jointly released the “Generation Z Digital Reading Report” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”), outlining the digital reading portrait of Generation Z.
The “Report” pointed out that Generation Z has become the main force of digital reading. Only in China Literature, Generation Z accounted for 66% of the new users in the past year, with a cumulative reading time of more than 2 billion hours and a total of more than 30 million comments. According to the QQ reading data of China Literature Group, in the past 12 months, 93% of Generation Z readers have read at least one book, with an average annual reading of more than 11.7 books. Digital reading not only allows reading “anytime, anywhere”, but also provides a space for communication and discussion for Generation Z, enriching the reading experience of young people.
What kind of books do young people like to read today? The “Report” shows that youth literature, literature, psychology, traditional cultural books, and science fiction have become the five most popular types of published books for Generation Z. “Dragon King: Restart of the World“, “The Complete Works of Lu Xun”, “Inferiority and Transcendence”, “The Analects of Confucius” and “The Three-Body Problem” have become the TOP1 books of corresponding genres that young people love most.
Interestingly, in 2022, “The Analects of Confucius”, “A Dream of Red Mansions” and “Journey to the West” will become young people’s favorite traditional cultural books, and the record for the highest discussion will be set by “Zi Zhi Tong Jian”, leaving nearly 15,000 comments throughout the year. It is full of generation Z’s thoughts on cultural inheritance and innovation; in 2022, generation Z has accumulated more than 30 million comments in reading articles, many of which have contributed to popular science, such as the keyword “science” appeared more than 420,000 times, ” “AI” appeared nearly 400,000 times, “metaverse” appeared more than 40,000 times, and “quantum entanglement” appeared more than 4,000 times.
In terms of time, the reading portraits of Generation Z reflect the characteristics of digital reading “anytime, anywhere”. The favorite reading time of Generation Z is noon and evening, and 12 noon and 10 pm are the peak reading periods.
From “one book in hand” to “ten thousand volumes on one screen”, Hou Xiaonan, president of China Literature Group and vice president of Tencent’s platform and content business group, believes that as a native of the Internet, especially the Z-generation users, the diversified benefits brought by digital reading Reading experience and rich and high-quality content are very important to them. “The power of IP is powerful, and good works can influence a generation. We hope that excellent online literary works can accompany generation after generation of young people to grow up, and accompany young people to love and read good books.”
Digital reading not only meets the needs of Generation Z to acquire information and knowledge, but also serves as an important bridge connecting young people with traditional culture, popular science and innovation by providing more interactive ways, learning and communication spaces. “Young people not only love to read, but also like to interact and communicate. In the future, our digital reading will create an interactive community, so that young people can not only read books, but also interact with their friends in it, including more with the author. You can even interact with the characters in the book through AI.” Hou Xiaonan said that as an important part of digital reading, online literature will continue to focus on the supply of high-quality content, and use a large number of excellent works to lead the younger generation to expand their cultural horizons and enrich their spiritual world. .
With rich reading resources and innovative reading experience, digital reading has become an important part of national reading. Just a few days ago, Shanghai Library and China Literature jointly announced that 103 online literature works have been collected in Shanghai Library in digital form. The content spans more than 20 years of creation history of online literature. “Shanghai Prosperity” and “Urban Fugue” and other Shanghai stories that show the style of the times, there are also masterpieces that condense traditional cultural heritage such as “My Family”, “Flying Another Day” and “Witch God Ji”, as well as “Spiritual Walker” and “Dawn”. Sci-fi works that combine rationality and imagination, such as “Sword of Sword” and “Mobile Storm”.
Following the first collection of Chinese online literature works in the Chinese collection of the British Library, one of the world‘s largest academic libraries, in September 2022, the inclusion of 100 online literature works in the Shanghai Library is considered by the industry to have “Significant” meaning.
The inclusion of online literature in library collections and services not only expands the scope of library collections, but also allows many online literature works to survive in a relatively complete way, including more records, preservation, analysis, and presentation. Li An, a full-time researcher at the Communication University of China, believes: “How to further develop the reading habits of young people based on the dissemination of literature (fiction) and the development of stories (IP) as a means, so that the digital reading of Generation Z young people can satisfy entertainment needs. It is the mission of the digital reading platform to form an indissoluble bond with classic texts and offline libraries, from socializing to cultivating the habit of seeking knowledge and aesthetics.”
The “Report” also noted that from digital reading to global reading, online literature is opening up international space for digital China. Statistics show that online texts “going overseas” have covered more than 200 countries and regions around the world, of which Generation Z users account for 75.3%.
“Guangming Daily” (version 09, May 4, 2023)
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责编：张倩 ]