Why does China’s online literature lead the world？ (Literature Focus, the second in the series of ＂Network Literature Watch Today＂)
China’s online literature, dubbed "barbaric growth", has become a unique landscape in the history of human literature development. The latest data shows that among the 731 million netizens in China, there are 333 million users of online literature, accounting for 45.6% of the total number of netizens, and there are 304 million netizens who read literature online on their mobile phones. The total number of words updated by hundreds of literary websites can reach 200 million Chinese characters, and the average daily page views of literary websites exceed 1.5 billion times. In 2016, the output value of online literature market in China exceeded 500 billion yuan. There is only one reading group, and 4 million authors upload original works for it every day, and the stock of online novels reaches 10 million. Books transformed and published from online novels, movies, games, animations, audio books and peripheral products have ignited the mass entertainment market and created a huge industry of "internet plus". It can be said that such a prosperous literary situation is unprecedented in China and unique in the world.
According to the survey of network literature in Europe, America, Japan, South Korea and South Asia conducted by the research team of Central South University, neither the Chinese network literature in these countries nor their native language network creation has been as prosperous as China. China, as a country with a long history of cultural resources, has seized the opportunity of digital media, and has truly become a strong country in online literature. Whether it is the author lineup, readers’ groups, works stock or overall literary vitality, China’s online literature has risen like Lin Xiufeng on the horizon of world literature, and it is an indisputable fact that the vast online literature is ahead of the world. Its cultural appearance and influence can be compared with Hollywood blockbusters, Japanese anime and Korean dramas. Based on the cross-border advantages of the Internet, a large number of China online novels have gone abroad and been sought after by foreigners, in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Britain, Russia, Indonesia, Vietnam … … There are many fans of online novels in China. The English translation website Wuxiaworld alone has been followed by readers from more than 100 countries and regions around the world, with more than 500 million hits and more than 500,000 daily visitors. Not only history, romance, but also fantasy, science fiction, games and apocalyptic works are all favorite dishes of many European and American readers. In Novel Updates, a navigation website that provides Asian translation serials, novels are from qidian.
Such a "huge amount" of literature exists, and it has begun to become a strong force of China culture "going out". Why can our online literature lead the world?
The government escorts network literature.
The good trend of online literature in China is due to the active guidance and support of the government, which has gradually formed a social environment and public opinion atmosphere conducive to the healthy development of online literature. In recent years, the relevant government departments have issued a series of policy measures on the development of online literature, which has made the online literature with the rise of grassroots and "barefoot running" an important position for the national strategy of cultural development and the construction of core values. On the one hand, it gives more support and rewards to online literature with policy orientation. For example, Opinions on Prospering and Developing Socialist Literature and Art in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China advocates "vigorously developing online literature and art", adopts the policy of "paying equal attention to construction and development, management and guidance", implements the creation and dissemination plan of online literature and art, and encourages the introduction of excellent online original works to promote the prosperous and orderly development of online literature. Since 2015, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Chinese Writers’ Association have launched the "Promotion Activities of Excellent Original Works of Online Literature" and the "Ranking of Online Novels in China" respectively, trying to set a benchmark for online literature and promote it to be mainstream and classic; On the other hand, we will carry out special actions such as "Net Net" and "Sword Net" to crack down on online infringement and piracy, strengthen the copyright management of online literature content and works, standardize the market order of online literature, optimize the network environment, and let positive energy lead online creation.Network literature has become an important wing of China’s cultural soft power construction with its extensive literary penetration, entertainment attraction and cultural influence.
Market injects innovation power into network literature.
Another factor contributing to the prosperity of China’s online literature is the market operation. If Shan Ye’s grass-roots free writing, the communication mechanism of the technology jungle and the economic lever of the business model are the three sharp tools for the explosive growth of online literature, then the market-oriented operation of the business model is the biggest pusher to stimulate creation, promote communication and innovate management, and it is also the economic support for the massive growth of online literature in China, which is exactly what other countries in the world have failed to do. From the unsustainable acquisition of the largest original literature website "Banshuxia" more than ten years ago, to the cliff-like decline of Shanda Literature from monopoly to disintegration, to the fact that Reading Group has become the new overlord in the field of online literature, and even the successful listing of Chinese online, the fundamental reason behind it lies in the success of business model construction and market operation. The rise of network literature in China is not only the cultural creation of digital media, but also the inevitable result of the birth of network cultural capital market. Its incentive mechanism lies in that online writing can not only express freely and spread instantly, but also make a profit to become rich and well-off, and even enter the "rich list of writers" to gain both fame and fortune, thus becoming an important incentive to inspire many people to "touch the net" to write. Li Hu was recently named the "King of Internet", and writers such as Chen Dong, Maoni, Dreaming of God, Tang Jiasan Shao and I Eat Tomatoes ascended the throne of "Twelve Gods".There are also a number of writers who have won the titles of "Platinum Writers", "Great God Writers" and "Top 100 Great Gods". Besides the value of their works, their evaluation criteria are mostly inseparable from the market reactions recognized by readers, such as click-through rate, collection, rewards, IP transfer rate, publication circulation and number of fans.
Since the middle and late last century, Chinese online literature in China has gone through a tortuous development path, from the initial "utilitarian" creation to the market-oriented exploration at the beginning of the new century (for example, Qidian.com tried to pay for reading in 2003), and then in recent years, the IP bidding copyright model has gradually formed a "long tail effect" extending from upstream original works to downstream industrial chains such as film and television, games, animation, books, performing arts, audio and peripheral industries. Although there are still cases of online piracy, mercenary and neglecting social benefits, the commercial operation of online literature activates, drives, prospers and restricts the mass entertainment cultural market, which is a major reason why China’s online literature can lead the world.
Culture provides rich nourishment for online literature.
Network literature is a kind of original literature and popular literature. Its influence and communication power actually show the cultural creativity of the Chinese nation, and its health and prosperity reflect our cultural self-confidence. Imagine that a kind of literature can be created by tens of millions of people, with millions of contracted writers and a readership of more than 300 million people, and spread far and wide around the world through the special path of cross-border network and folk power. This phenomenal "cluster" literary phenomenon of the times is surely a generate with the release of national literary innovation and cultural creativity.
Tang Jiasan Shao, who started to create online in 2004, has written more than 40 million words of novels and published more than 160 books, which have been continuously updated for 130 months. Recently, he said with emotion: "No country will produce millions of new writers in just a few decades. How many writers can there be in the world?" He also quoted Professor Chen Xiaoming from Peking University as saying: "Even if there is only one-tenth of the fine works of online literature, it is a very large and considerable number, which is incomparable to other countries." There are many writers, high output, perseverance, and youthful passion to let go of dreams. It is difficult for online literature to think about it. Of course, there are more important historical and social reasons for the high standard of online literature in the world. China’s long literary tradition and cultural heritage provide rich soil for today’s online literature creation. It goes without saying that the strong rise of China’s economy, the continuous enhancement of comprehensive national strength and the open and stable social environment are the biggest background of the rapid rise of online literature in China.
The experience of the development of online literature shows that strong cultural soft power is the ultimate goal pursued by a country. The innovative vitality and cultural creativity highlighted by online literature is a great symbol of the increasing cultural soft power of the Chinese nation.
(Image from the Internet)