Source: China Press, Publication, Radio and Telegraph; Author: Lai Mingfang
On April 7, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released the "2021 Research Report on the Development of Chinese Online Literature" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), which analyzes the development context and trend characteristics of online literature from five levels: content theme, content consumption, creation ecology, online text IP and online text going abroad, based on industry data including reading group and other platforms.
By the end of 2021, the number of online literature users on the mainland will reach 502 million, accounting for 48.6% of the total number of netizens. Mass creation has promoted the turn of online literary themes, the rapid rise of realistic themes and science fiction themes, traditional themes such as historical immortals have also shown the transformation of the spiritual core, and the diversified content pattern has taken shape. At the same time, online literature has advanced in depth and depth, and its overseas influence has continued to rise, becoming an important carrier for writing and disseminating Chinese stories.
The rise of reality and science fiction themes Diversified content patterns have been formed
The report points out that while China's online literature is booming in 2021, it shows a good sense of social value and cultural responsibility, and also presents a new style and characteristics of inheriting the past and opening up the future. 2021 is the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, but also a year of comprehensive victory in poverty alleviation, more and more industry front-line practitioners poured into the network literature creation team, with online text to record the development of the industry, the style of the times, write China's contemporary economic take-off and scientific and technological development, so that online text has become an important carrier for ordinary people to record Chinese stories.
According to statistics, 80% of the online literary creation team last year were new writers. Mass creation has promoted the theme shift of mainland online literature and the reading of the whole people, the growth rate of science fiction and reality themes has been rapid, and the categories of fantasy, immortality, and history have gradually shown a trend of parallel, and the diversified pattern of online literary content themes has been formed.
According to the data of Reading Group, the compound growth rate of realistic themes in the five years from 2016 to 2021 exceeded 30%, ranking second in the whole category and the category with the top 5 growth rate in 2021. The shift in realistic themes makes online literature combine the protagonist's career development with the changes of the times and national rejuvenation in terms of creative techniques, such as the online writer Mei Shiniang's work "The Rushing Era - To the South to the North", which takes the establishment of the Hainan Special Economic Zone in 1998 as the background, records the history of the father's entry into the Hainan Special Economic Zone, and focuses on the growth and struggle of the youth group after the reform and opening up.
At the same time, science fiction has become one of the five major categories of online literature and an important path for the localization of science fiction. In the past five years, the number of authors who have created science fiction novels under the Reading Group alone has increased by 189% to 515,000 times, and more than 22% of the top writers have created science fiction works, and many works of science fiction or science fiction-related themes have landed in the top ten of the starting monthly ticket list.
The influx of Gen Z writers and readers has injected new life into the reading of the whole people
As an important part of contemporary Chinese literature, online literature is also an important content supply for all people to read. According to statistics, by the end of 2021, the total number of online literature users on the mainland reached 502 million, an increase of 41.45 million over the same period last year, accounting for 48.6% of the total number of netizens, and the number of readers reached the highest level in history.
According to the report, Beijing is the city with the largest number of online literature users, and Shandong is a major province for online literature reading. The report proposes that online literature continues to promote the development of reading for all with its unique charm, and continues to attract the influx of Z generation writers and readers, injecting vitality and new strength into reading for all.
According to the data of Reading Group, in 2021, the number of new writers after 95 accounted for more than 80%, and the number of new users after 95 in 2021, which started Chinese, accounted for more than 60%. At the same time, Generation Z has also profoundly influenced the content composition and value core of online literature. According to the statistics of the reading APP of the starting point of the Reading Group, in 2021 alone, the keyword "knowledge" appeared 130,000 times in the book review area, "physics" appeared 70,000 times, "chemistry" appeared 16,000 times, and even "high number" appeared more than 5,000 times.
In addition, because Gen Z grew up in a fast-growing China, national pride is even stronger. In 2021, the word "China" appeared more than 300,000 times in reader comments, and nearly one million times in the past three years.
It is urgent to push online texts out to sea in depth cracking down on piracy
The report believes that in 2021, China's online literature will achieve phased progress in going overseas: a global situation of all-round dissemination, large-scale and in-depth promotion, and diversified development is taking shape. The overseas mode has been upgraded from the content output of the work authorization to the output of the industrial model, and the general trend of "ecological going to sea" has emerged.
In recent years, Chinese online literature has disseminated more than 10,000 works overseas. Among them, more than 4,000 physical books have been authorized, more than 3,000 translated works have been online, and more than 100 million users have subscribed to and read APP on the website. By the end of 2021, about 2,100 translations of Chinese online literature have been launched online at the starting point, and about 370,000 original works have been cultivated overseas. During the epidemic prevention and control period, the number of overseas online writers increased by more than 3 times, of which the post-00s accounted for nearly 60%. Excellent works that are popular in China, such as "Heavenly Dao Library", "May You Shine Well", "Doctor Lingran", "Full-time Master", etc., have also had great influence overseas.
In 2021, China's nettext IP going overseas has obviously shown an innovative trend. Comic works have come to sea. IP comics such as "Just Like Cold Light Meets The Sun" have entered the top of the popularity list in the Japanese and Korean markets. In 2021, IP dramas such as "Son-in-law", "Douluo Continent", "Jinxin Jade", "Sword In the Snow" and other IP dramas have landed on Mainstream video websites in Europe and the United States such as YouTube and Viki, affecting hundreds of countries and regions around the world.
The overseas adaptation of nettext IP has made a breakthrough. "Let You Shine Well" by the reading writer 囧囧有妖 was adapted into the drama "Provoking the Fire Wife" in Vietnam. In 2021, the film and television remake rights of the TV series "Son-in-law" were sold to the Korean streaming media platform, and the IP film and television works not only stayed overseas for broadcasting, but also became the source of content for overseas dramas, which shows that the overseas influence of online literature has gradually risen.
In addition, the report noted in particular the importance of copyright protection. Rampant piracy not only causes economic losses to original authors, regular websites and related industrial chains, but also seriously damages the author's creative enthusiasm, interferes with the development order of the industry, and adversely affects the sustainable development of online literature and the entire cultural industry. In 2020, the overall market size of China's online literature was 28.8 billion yuan, and the scale of piracy losses increased by 6.9% over 2019 to 6.028 billion yuan, and the scale of piracy losses accounted for 21% of the total market size.
The report believes that the supervision, crackdown and publicity of copyright protection of online literature should be further strengthened, and a normal state of top-down comprehensive management should be formed, and the chain of pirated interests should be cut off from the source.