China Officially Launches the 2023 Publishing Convergent Development Project

China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) recently issued a notice to start the implementation of the 2023 publishing convergent development project. The notice pointed out that the 2023 publishing convergent development project will focus on the in-depth implementation of the digital publishing boutique selection and recommendation plan and the publishing convergent development demonstration firm selection and recommendation plan. At the same time, the NPPA will continue to carry out cultivation, construction, and application promotion for other selected high-quality works, platforms, firms, and talents of the convergent development project.

The Winners of the 14th Taofen Publishing Award Are Announced

On March 13, the Publishers Association of China released the "Recognition Decision on the 14th Taofen Publishing Award", officially announcing the list of winners of the 14th Taofen Publishing Award. Ding Yiping and 30 outstanding publishing workers who have been working hard in the publishing line for a long time, practicing the spirit of Taofen, and making outstanding contributions in publishing work won the 14th Taofen Publishing Award.

The 11th Mao Dun Literary Award Is Calling for Entry

On 15 March, the China Writers Association issued a call for entries for the 11th Mao Dun Literature Award, one of China's highest honorary literary awards. This quadrennial award is open to full-length novels of over 130,000 words published in book form from 2019-2022. The call for entries closes on 30 April 2023.

Chinese Publishers Hit Hard Against Piracy

The “Jiaxing Nanhu '12-28' Mega Copyright Infringement Case” successfully solved by Gomai Culture in cooperation with the Jiaxing police, has shown publishing practitioners the light of day. The netting operation resulted in the arrest of 35 suspects, the destruction of 2 illegal printing enterprises, the removal of 10 dens for storage and sales of illegal infringing copies, and the seizure of up to 720,000 copies of finished infringing copies, with 30 million yuan worth of books in cover price, involving an amount of 120 million yuan in the whole case.

Publishing Market Sees a Boom in Gender Themes

Chizuko Ueno is a famous Japanese sociologist, a representative figure of Japanese feminology/gender studies, and an honorary professor at the University of Tokyo. A few days ago, Quan Xixi, a social influencer on the Bilibili platform, released a video titled "Chatting at the Peking University Dormitory with Ueno Chizuko", whose questions sparked controversy. The #Chatting at the Peking University Dormitory with Ueno Chizuko# has been on Weibo, the Twitter equivalent in China, for several days and has been read by 580 million people. After it became a hot topic, various books by Chizuko Ueno in China became best sellers and were once out of stock.

Inauguration of the Institute of Online Literature of Central South University

The Institute of Online Literature of Central South University was inaugurated on the 18th in Changsha. The Institute is guided by the China Writers Association and Central South University and is jointly established by Central South University and Huazhu Technology. Central South University is the earliest academic group to conduct research on online literature in China. Over the years, its research team has published over 400 papers, edited five sets of research series, published 56 theoretical and critical works, and established China's first online literature database.

The 6th China "Online Literature+" Conference Will Open in Beijing on 24 March

The 6th China "Online Literature+" Conference will be held in Beijing from March 24 to 26. With the theme of "Expresses a new era and forges a new brilliance", the conference will take stock of and showcase the development of online literature over the past decade, carry out exchanges and trade signing activities, guide the creation of fine works, promote the healthy development of the online literature industry.

Behind the 510 Billion Yuan Audio Economy, Online Audio Vocational Training Is Breaking the Circle

iiMedia Research has released the "China Audio Economy Digital Application Development Report, 2021-2022", which shows that the market size of China's audio economy is expected to exceed 510 billion yuan in 2023.　iiMedia Research data also shows that the overall market size of China's audio-based vocational training market is on the rise from 2017-2021, and the vocational training market has become an important part of the audio economy industry. 627,650 recorded audio works were produced by trainees in 2022, with works spread across the current mainstream UGC content platforms.

Lizhi to Advance AI Chatbot Business after Achieved Full-year Profit for the First Time

On the evening of March 16, Lizhi Inc. (NASDAQ: LIZI), the Chinese online audio UGC platform, released its fourth quarter and 2022 full-year financial report.　Looking at the full-year figures, Lizhi reported revenue of 2.185 billion yuan in 2022, up 3% year-on-year. 2022 net profit reached 86.5 million yuan, the first full-year profit compared to a net loss of 127 million yuan in 2021. Meanwhile, Lizhi said it will push forward with its global expansion strategy in 2023, promoting the use of artificial intelligence chatbots in its global business.