Too busy to read a book, people jump online

Ren Jing considers herself a bit of a bookworm.



She reads book reviews on popular websites, visits online bookstores and buys at least five books a month.



But the problem is, she never has time to read them.



Ren, a 27-year-old public relations manager, is among a growing number of Chinese people who are finding it increasingly difficult to find the time to read each day because of their busy schedules.



It's this sort of trend that has sent alarm bells ringing across China that perhaps not enough people are burying their heads in a book once in a while.



A national survey conducted last year by the China Institute of Public Science revealed that only 48.7 percent of the population read books, a decrease for the sixth consecutive year.



Meanwhile, the number of people using the Internet in China increased drastically to 136 million by the end of last year, perhaps an indicator that more people's reading habits are vastly changing.



Even the country's publishing industry is feeling the pinch.



The Yilin Press, a leading publisher in China, has been grappling with how to cope with losing many of its readers to digital media.



"There were times when we used to sell more than 1 million copies of a book," Zhao Wei, a Yilin Press director, said.



"Now a book is considered a bestseller when its sales reach about 50,000 copies."



Chen Li, deputy director of the National Library, blamed current social values that encourage overnight fame and success - instead of good old hard work.



"Many people forget how important it is to read and study to cultivate their creativeness and skills."



Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor at Peking University, said: "It is an era of reading pictures from magazine or websites. People like sensational and visual impact."



However, Xia warned: "Books offer the essence of theories, which cannot be gained by only reading 'fast-food' information online."



任静觉得自己多少可以算得上是个爱读书的人了。



她在一些知名网站上看书评、逛网上书店、每月至少买五本书。



但问题在于，她从来没有时间来看这些书。



和这位27岁的公关经理一样，越来越多的中国人发现由于整天忙忙碌碌，每天挤时间看书越来越困难。



这一趋势为全中国敲响了警钟，如今挤时间看书的人实在很少。



中国公共科学研究所去年开展的一项全国性调查显示，目前我国只有48.7%的人口还有看书的习惯，这一比例已是连续第六年下跌。



同时，截至去年年底，中国的互联网用户激增至1.36亿，这或许可以说明越来越多人的阅读习惯正在发生巨大变化。



甚至连我国的出版业也受到了影响。



国内主要出版社之一--译林出版社一直在探索如何解决大量读者流失至网络媒体的问题。



译林出版社的赵薇主任说："我们曾经一本书买出过100多万册。"



"但现在一本书能卖出5万册左右就算是畅销书了。"



国家图书馆副馆长陈力认为这主要归咎于当今社会鼓励一夜成名或快速成功的社会价值观，而摈弃了过去的那种靠勤奋努力获得成功的观念。



"很多人忘记了读书、学习对于培养他们的创造力和技能有多么重要。"



北京大学社会学教授夏学銮说："现在是个读图时代。人们更喜欢新奇的和带有视觉冲击的东西。"



但夏教授发出警告："书集聚了理论的精华，这仅靠在互联网上浏览'速食'信息是无法得来的。"
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