"Generation Z" Leads the Trend of Online Literature (Deep Observation)

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

Courtesy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

In recent years, major social issues such as the centenary of the founding of the Party, rural revitalization, building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, the "Belt and Road" and the community of human destiny, and the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic have attracted strong attention from online literature. On April 7, the "2021 Research Report on the Development of Chinese Online Literature" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences pointed out that Chinese online literature has become a "Chinese story" created by the public and read by the whole people. Mass creation is promoting the transformation of online literary themes, the growth rate of reality and science fiction themes is rapid, and categories such as fantasy, immortals, and history are gradually becoming side by side, and the diversified pattern of online literary content themes has been formed. Among them, the "Generation Z" (referring to people born between 1995 and 2009) has profoundly influenced the content composition and value core of online literature.

Realistic themes are rapidly emerging

In the creation of online literature in 2021, the realistic themes are eye-catching. 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 it is also the top five categories in 2021. More and more front-line practitioners in the industry have poured into the online literature creation team, recording the development of the industry and the style of the times with words, telling the economic take-off and technological development of contemporary China, making online literature an important carrier for ordinary people to record Chinese stories.

Works such as "Surgical Live Room" by Zhen Xiong Chumo, "When the Doctor Opened the Plug-in" with a hand in hand, and "Doctor Lingran" by Shitori Village tell the story of the angel in white saving lives and helping the injured, and the heat continues to rise; Zhuo Muxian's "Veteran New Police" elevates the daily work of the anti-drug police to the height of national security, portraying the wonderful life of the protagonist Han Xin from "olive green" to "dark blue"; "Post-95" new generation writer Mei Shiniang first opened "The Running Era - South to North", telling the history of her father's courageous entry into the Hainan Special Economic Zone; Agaan's "On the Land Of Sunshine" presents the touching deeds of Chinese engineers in promoting China-Africa cooperation in the past 20 years; The "Breaking Wave Era" that requires emotional stability in the world focuses on the development history of China's mobile phone manufacturing; Bandit's "Big Dipper Star" praises the technology of the developers of navigation satellites to serve the country; Yin Xun's "He Is in the Name of Time" opens up a professional picture scroll in the field of Dunhuang mural restoration for readers; Hua Pan's "23 and a Half Degrees North Latitude of Getting Rich", My Crazy "Iron Bone Zhengzheng", nonsense "Tashi Delek" and other realistic theme works that focus on grassroots development and acuras and national feelings are also very eye-catching.

The creative team is becoming more and more diverse

The emergence of a large number of excellent online literary works with realistic themes reflects that this theme has formed a greater attraction to creators. Taking the Fifth Reality Theme Online Literature Essay Contest in 2021 as an example, the competition attracted 19,256 participants, an increase of 40.6% year-on-year; A total of 21,075 entries were submitted, an increase of 42.4% year-on-year, and the number of participating authors and works reached a record high. In the online literature creation team, there are many creators of professors, technicians, lawyers, judges, soldiers, doctors, screenwriters and other professions, who have created a large number of "hardcore" works with a wide range of personal experience. The report mentions that the role of online writers covers more than 188 occupations, and doctors, athletes and Internet practitioners are the 3 most popular occupations.

Before online literature turned to realistic themes, as a common category in online literature and genre literature, "industry literature" has accumulated a large number of loyal readers. Today, what are the new changes in such "natural" realistic works? The "Report" put forward the "industry background reality theme novel", believing that compared with the traditional "industry text" that emphasizes entertainment and storytelling, today's "industry background reality theme novel" more obviously shows the concern for current politics, people's livelihood and other issues, and the vision is broader.

It is also worth mentioning that the "Chronology" that is widely popular in the website of the women's frequency has become another path for the transformation of online literary themes because of its depiction of china's contemporary history after the founding of New China and its concern for the fate of ordinary people in the historical trend.

"Generation Z" became the main force of reading

According to the 49th Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network, as of the end of December 2021, the total number of online literature users in the mainland reached 502 million, an increase of 41.45 million over the same period of the previous year, accounting for 48.6% of the total number of netizens, and the number of readers reached the highest level in history. People can use electronic devices such as smartphones to make full use of fragmented time to read, broadening the scenes and time periods in which reading behavior occurs. The "Report" believes that online literature provides an important content supply for the reading of the whole people and has become an important part of the reading of the whole people.

In 2021, the number of new users of the starting point reading APP "post-95" accounted for more than 60%, reflecting from one side that "Generation Z" has become the main force of online literature readership. As the "netizen" generation, they have an innate digital survival experience, a more flexible, sharp and cutting-edge "network sense", and it is easier to communicate seamlessly with authors of the same age. The addition of "Generation Z" has further highlighted the significance of online literature for all people to read.

Some readers said that they would enter a less familiar field through online literary works: "For example, after watching "Sideburns Are Not Begonia Red", I read a lot of popular science books and biographical memoirs of the older generation of Peking Opera people. After reading the online articles on criminal investigation and anti-drug enforcement, I went to read many books on criminal investigation technology and crime research. Some readers also said: "After reading the online articles set in a certain dynasty, it will be easier to read the history books about this dynasty." The massive amount of information in online literature has become an important channel for the "Z generation" to obtain knowledge.

More and more readers will also discuss the "hard-core knowledge" involved in the works in the comment area, such as Morningstar LL's "Black Technology System of Xueba" to stimulate "wild class representatives" to focus on "weekly guessing", "twin prime conjecture", "corner valley conjecture", etc., spontaneously sorting out knowledge points, answering questions, and forming a "popular science atmosphere group"; Some readers explore radio knowledge under Tianrui's "We Live in Nanjing"; In the squeaky "Entering the Room" book review area, a picture of the ancient artwork "Ivory Ball" in the book is posted. According to the statistics of the starting point reading APP, 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.

Under the trend of high-quality, mainstreaming and the turn of realistic themes, reading online literature is no longer just a pastime for "Generation Z" to pass the time, but has gradually become an entrance to learning cultural knowledge.

The book review area shows the feelings of home and country

"Generation Z" grew up in rising China, with strong national pride and patriotic enthusiasm, they expressed their home and country feelings through comments and feedback, which in turn affected the creative direction of online literature. According to the statistics of the starting point reading APP, in 2021, the word "China" appeared more than 300,000 times in reader comments, and nearly one million times in the past three years. "Patriotic" appears 15,000 times. In the book review area, readers can see everywhere the pride of China's traditional culture and scientific and technological development inspired by the works. For example, a reader left a message to Yan ZK's "Town Demon Museum": "What shines between the lines is the light of the nation's five thousand years of ideological collision, tempering, and casting." Some readers commented in the book review area of Zhuo Muxian's "Veterans and New Policemen": "They have used sweat, blood and even their lives to build an indestructible copper wall for national security, social public safety, and the safety of people's lives and property, and have fulfilled the solemn promise of 'people's public security for the people' with practical actions!" Today is the People's Police Day, and here I borrow the circle of books to pay tribute to all the people's policemen!"

The "Report" pointed out that the influx of "Generation Z" has profoundly affected the creative orientation, spiritual outlook and value function of online literature. With its rich imagination, front-line interactive exchanges and the advantages of spring wind and rain, online literature not only creates Chinese stories that young people love to read, but also plays a positive value guiding role in literary works, but also continuously absorbs new readers and new works, and broadens the territory and content of reading for all.

Reporter Zhang Pengyu

People's Daily Overseas Edition ( April 13, 2022, Edition 07)