New trends emerge in China’s reading culture

Just over one-third of Chinese adults read on WeChat which has been included for the first time in a national reading survey.

Added to that, two-thirds of mobile users also employ WeChat to get their news.

The figures are part of the Chinese Academy of News and Publication’s 12th national survey covering a sample 49,802 people from 29 provinces, double the size of last year.

According to the report, 51.8 percent of Chinese adults read on mobiles, 9.9 percent higher than 2013; 34.4 percent use WeChat to read while 66.4 percent of mobile users read on WeChat last year.

On average, WeChat users read twice a day for a total 14.11 minutes: 72.9 percent read news; 67.1 percent read friends' updates and 20.9 percent read threads on public accounts. There was little difference between male and female mobile users.

“We found that reading special coverage on hot topics increased significantly on WeChat, and the platform is now offering more systematic, coherent and well-rounded information," said director of China Academy of Press and Publication Research Institute Xu Shengguo.

Meanwhile, there are now more practical functions on WeChat. 27.2 percent of users favor QR code scanning, 19 percent use QQ mail and 19 percent use “shake to find friends nearly”. 15.3 percent chose to use WeChat payment while 7 percent used online ticket booking and food ordering services last year.