Photo: Courtesy of China Literature

The China Online Literature + Conference, a nationwide event dedicated to the country's burgeoning Online Literature (OL) industry, was recently held in Beijing.

The conference was an assortment of various events including five forums focusing on themes like "OL and social realistic themes." Four salon talks were also held on subjects such as how online literature IPs can be adapted as film and TV productions. 

To extend the creative sector's influence, the conference also organized 18 Chinese OL content creators to share their creative experiences with students at schools like Renmin University of China. 

Ma Changya, an expert in OL industry policy development, told the Global Times that in China themed events such as this no longer just focus on "content or writers," but "the ecology of the entire industry," which includes sectors like "market growth, IP and cultural policy analysis, developments abroad as well as programs for talent training." 

"China is known as a leader in the global OL field, so we have more responsibility to find a system that can boost global OL development by engaging overseas resources," Ma remarked. 

At the conference, a report that scrutinizes the development of the Chinese OL sector in 2023 was released. Domestically, there are 550 million consumers of OL content, while the total number of writers on Chinese OL platforms surged to 29,294,300.  

Noting that the record of 550 million users is a "new high," Hou Xiaonan, president of Chinese online literature giant China Literature, told the Global Times that the record suggests nearly half of China's internet users are reading online novels. 

Hou Xiaonan, president of Chinese online literature giant China Literature

 
Internationally, according to the report, Chinese OL works have also been translated into more than 20 languages in more than 40 countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, North America, Europe and Africa. The scale of the overseas online literature market reached 4.35 billion yuan ($598.8 million) in 2023. 

The conference also revealed that, including the popular production Joy of Life, a total of 81 Chinese OL IPs have been collected by the China National Archives of Publications and Culture 

Cultural and creative industries expert Yao Yu told the Global Times that these selected OL IPs were collected by the national archives as "many of them are able to convey China's cultural and historical stories through digital channels." 

"We have many online IPs that draw inspiration from ancient Chinese mythology, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and other fine parts of traditional Chinese culture. Chinese culture is not just historical, but also contemporary," Hou told the Global Times. He also added that China's fast developing cultural industry can go overseas, contributing Chinese wisdom to the cultures of the world.

With the growing abundance of Chinese OL productions, the industry has progress uphill by upgrading "book" IP to video-audio products. By the end of 2023, a total of 72,674 literature works have been adapted into animations, films, TV productions, paper books and so forth. Animated adaptions of online literature works have been mostly promising. 

Ma told the Global Times that "organization-to-organization crossover collaboration" is a shortcut for getting OL IPs adapted into more diverse cultural products.

Take China Literature as an example. Other than adapting IPs like Joy of Life into TV dramas, it has also worked with toy and beverage companies to launch "blind box" toy sets and limited versions of drinks. 

While noting the maturation of IP adaptions, Li Hong, deputy secretary-general of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, told the Global Times that OL IPs' creative transformation also has a "long way to go, especially considering products' quality and depth" as well as enhanced industry regulation.  

The 2024 China Online Literature + Conference was co-hosted by organizations including the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication (Beijing Municipal Bureau of Copyright).