Traveling more than 1,000 kilometers from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to Beijing, literature lover Ye Zhiyu soon hit it off with her net friends at an offline reading activity at the ongoing 2024 Beijing Book Fair.

 

More and more young Chinese choose social reading in the digital era as they combine online reading alongside offline interactions. 

 

Live streaming technology enables young readers to identify reading clubs online easily. Once the sense of belonging gets built in, readers tend to take part in offline communication, since it coincides with more interpersonal contacts.

 

"The internet brought us book lovers together, while the book fair offers a platform to share our feelings face to face," Ye shared her joy of joining this offline activity on site.

 

Ye belongs to a reading club called, Girl viavia, a female readers community that encourages women to seek inner peace and build confidence in themselves through reading. 

 

Club members from across the country have arrived at the event, and most of them have already known each other through live streaming and online communications, so they have quickly bonded together today, said Jian Daniu, one of the guests at the reading event.

 

Socialized reading goes beyond the book fair. According to a report published in the China Youth Daily in February, over 55 percent of university students surveyed have attended social reading activities or joined a book club to make new friends.

 

Approximately 48 percent of the respondents said they would share their reading notes and views online, over 12 percent said they would search for a "reading mate" to read together, while 18 percent prefer attending a reading club online or offline.

 

Yang Aihua, another guest and a full-time book blogger, said technology empowers reading as it helps her reach more people via live streaming and voice chat, and delivers greater convenience to readers. 

 

The blogger, who has hosted more than 100 reading salons online and offline, also supports printed books, saying that offline book salons can provide participants with a more intimate experience.

 

The 2024 Beijing Book Fair, which opened on April 19, will run until April 29. Featuring over 400,000 books from 720 exhibitors, the book fair has attracted authors, publishers, and reading enthusiasts nationwide.