E-book industry booms in China

BEIJING, CHINA: The e-book industry in China is booming and is now the second biggest in the world after the US industry.

In 2009, the number of e-books sold in China reached 3.82 million, and that in the first half of 2010 amounted to over 20 percent of the world's total.

However, there had been a few problems in the popularity of the e-book industry, leading to the country's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) releasing a few instructions, Xinhua reported.

The problems include weak protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), lack of industry-wide standards and a dearth of domestically-produced reading material.

Digital books can't kill print

The administration also outlined a few tasks for the promotion of the industry.

The tasks include establishing a pool of reading material for e-books, nurturing of big e-book brands and improving the quality of digital transformation of traditional publications.

China will also set a national standard relating to format, quality and copyright.