Economy

Digital publication exceeds book print

By Nie Ligao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-27 11:08

China's digital publications outnumbered traditional book presses in economy scale, and publishing revenue bound to mobile phones exceeded the output of video games, cnr.cn said Tuesday, citing the just-issued News Printing Industry Report of 2009.

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"The annual report shows the news printing industry has emerged to be one pillar of national cultural business," Fan Weiping, director of the industrial development department of the General Administration of Press and Publication, said at a press conference on July 26, 2010.

Production of digital publications was 79.94 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) in 2009, surpassing the traditional book presses, said Fan.

Turnover of the entire news press industry reached one trillion yuan ($147.5 billion) in 2009, up 300 billion yuan ($44.25 billion) from a year earlier, according to Fan.

The report shows that some provinces with ample cultural resources and east coast provinces took the lead in the news press industry and shaped the trend of digital publications. The digital industry center zones are taking shape in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, said Fan.