Rising online sales leaving bookstores on the shelf

The growth of internet shopping has resulted in a massive decline in the number of bricks-and-mortar outlets, as Hou Liqiang and Liu Kun report from Wuhan, Hubei.

While it's common to see people holding cellphones as they ride China's subways, it's becoming increasingly rare to see more than two people in the same car reading books. Moreover, old-fashioned outlets that sell nothing but books are also becoming harder to find on China's streets.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in Central China, is a microcosm of the situation across the country. In the past two decades, thousands of bookstores have closed down in the city, which boasts a higher proportion of university students - all potentially avid book readers - than many other major metropolises. Last year, university students accounted for 1.06 million of Wuhan's population of almost 10.8 million.