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Chinese Online Literature Appeals to Overseas Readers

A recent report by iResearch reveals that Chinas online literature has 31.94 million readers outside the country， and its overseas market earnings now stand at RMB 460 million. The increase in readership is gaining pace， logging 73.7 percent growth so far this year. As many as 91 percent of overseas readers read works of Chinese literature online every day， and their reading time is 117 minutes on average. Whats more， 87.1 percent of these readers are willing to pay for the reading content.

“Love for stories is found in all humans， and heroes created by stories stand for values that resonate with all of us，” said an executive of China Literature Limited when talking of why Chinese literature appeals to overseas readers.

With the increasing presence and influence of Chinese literary works， certain problems however need to be solved， including distribution channels， cultural differences， copyright， and translation. The iResearch report shows that more than 60 percent of foreign readers are unhappy about the quality of the translation， while more than 50 percent cited slow updating of new installments as a big problem that bothers them.

Pork Production Recovering

Data released by China Meat Association shows that the numbers of live sows and hogs as a whole have continued to steadily climb up since last October.

Under the dual assault of African swine flu and COVID-19， overall meat production in China decreased in the first half of this year over the same period of 2019. The decrease swept across pork， mutton， and beef production during the first quarter； but during the second quarter mutton and beef production reported mild growth and the fall in pork production shrank on a year-on-year basis. By the end of the second quarter， there were 36.29 million fertile sows in China， an increase of 7.3 percent over the first quarter of this year； and the number of live hogs was 339.96 million， up 10.8 percent over the recent nadir at the end of the third quarter of 2019.

While boosting domestic production， China is importing seven kinds of meat from 38 countries and regions around the world. Over the first eight months of this year the imports totaled 6.58 million tons， exceeding the volume for the whole of 2019.

China is the worlds largest meat producer and consumer， producing about one third of the global volume. According to an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs， due to strong policy incentives and market demand， Chinas hog production is recovering faster than expected. By September more than 9，000 newly built large pig farms had started operation， and 11，200 farms which had closed last year reopened. Smaller farmers have also regained confidence in pig raising.

Beijing Winter Olympics Attract Volunteers

By September 20 more than 870，000 people had applied to volunteer for the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Organizer of the Olympic Winter Games plans to recruit 27，000 volunteers， some of whom will continue to serve the Paralympic Winter Games. Recruitment opened on December 5， 2019， and will end on June 30， 2021.

Among the applicants 71.5 percent are female， 91.72 percent are aged 18-28， 1.07 percent are foreign citizens， and 0.21 percent are people with disabilities. According to Teng Shengping， chief of the volunteer section of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games， volunteers should have three qualities： good health and strong will， sufficient time and energy to attend training course， and good manners and competence to present the new image of China.

Advances in Compulsory Education

At a recent press conference Vice Minister of Education Zheng Fuzhi said that China has made major progress in ensuring compulsory education for all school-age children.

By September 15 this year， the number of dropout students in compulsory education had fallen from 600，000 in 2019 to 2，419， with the amount being zero among registered lowincome families. Last year the net primary education enrollment rate rose to 99.94 percent and the gross junior secondary education enrollment rate was 102.6 percent.

The policy of providing free textbooks， exempting fees， and subsidizing boarders has been extended to more students. Boarding students from registered lowincome families now also receive government subsidies.

As for infrastructure， between 2013 and 2019 schools of 221 million square meters were built or rebuilt. With more classrooms available， the size of classes has been cut down.

以上杂志原文:Chinese Online Literature Appeals to Overseas Readers的内容，节选自《chinatoday》杂志！