From AFP, via Daily News: “Fewer and fewer Chinese are reading books as they have little time and get distracted by new media such as the Internet, state media reported. Only 51.7 percent of all literate Chinese are in the habit of reading books, the Xinhua news agency said, citing a survey of 6,000 people carried out with the authorisation of the State Administration of Press and Publication.
The percentage has dropped steeply in recent years, with an average annual decline of 8.7 percent since 1998, according to the agency. More than half those who said they did not read books cited lack of time as the main reason.”
