China Literature, the biggest net literature company in China and even in the world, went public on the Hongkong Stock Exchange on November 8. Thanks to the popularization of mobile Internet, net literature swiftly became a mainstream culture form and business model in China, and by June 2017, the number of net literature readers had reached 353 million, including 327 million readers on mobile phones, accounting for 45.1 percent of mobile Internet users.

High-quality literature works have been produced in net literature in the past decade. Today, net literature is also extending to movies, mobile games, cartoons, etc. Popular TV series like Empresses in the Palace and Nirvana in Fire are based on net literature.

Through the Internet, China's net literature is entering overseas markets, winning more and more foreign readers. Recent years have witnessed a wave of translation of Chinese net literature into foreign languages. There are already hundreds of overseas social media and websites that voluntarily translate and share such literature works, covering more than 20 countries and regions across the world.

When Chinese contemporary literature works based on the Internet are favored by the capital markets, it implies bright prospects for digital cultural industries. This rising sector is also expected to become a new economic growth engine.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article published in Guangming Daily on November 9   )