Are Chinese addicted to WeChat?

Chinese adults read news and threads on smartphone app WeChat for more than 40 minutes a day on average, according to the latest annual survey of China’s reading habits released on April 20.

4月20日最新发布的中国阅读习惯年度调查显示，中国成年人平均每天通过智能手机在微信上阅读新闻和文章超过40分钟。

Reading on WeChat was included for the first time in the annual National Reading Survey released by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication. The results show that on average, Chinese adults use WeChat to read twice a day for a total length of more than 40 minutes.

微信阅读时首次出现在这份年度国民阅读调查中，该调查由中国新闻出版研究院发布。结果显示，中国成年人平均每天通过微信阅读两次，总时间超过40分钟。

The survey showed that 66.4 percent of adults in China used WeChat to read, of which 72.9 percent read news, 67.1 percent read their friends’ updates and 20.9 percent read threads on public accounts.

调查显示，中国66.4%的成年人通过微信阅读，其中72.9%的人阅读新闻，67.1%的人浏览朋友圈更新，20.9%的人阅读公众账号的文章。

The 12th annual survey was conducted nationwide, covering a sample size of 49,802 people, which was double the size of the survey last year.

这是第十二此调查，范围遍及全国，覆盖49802人的样本，是去年调查规模的两倍。

Professor Wang Yuguang of the Department of Information Management in Peking University said the dream of having libraries all over the world is still not realized, and the presence of WeChat is filling this void to some extent.

北京大学信息管理学院的王余光教授介绍，让世界各地都有图书馆的梦想仍然没有实现，而微信的存在某种程度上填补了这一空白。

"In a day and age where the penetration rate of libraries is so low, this kind of reading is supplementing the lack of public libraries to a certain extent," said Wang. "But personally, I think WeChat is taking too much of our time. Students are too reliant on WeChat."

“在当今图书馆的普及率很低，这种形式的阅读一定程度上填补了公共图书馆的空缺，但个人认为，微信占用了我们太多的时间，学生过于依赖微信。”王余光说道。

"Reading on WeChat is fragmented and salutatory, not to mention the inaccuracy of some of the information," said Dean of Chinese Academy of Press and Publication Wei Yushan.

“在微信上阅读是比较片面模糊，无法达到信息的准确性。”中国新闻出版研究院院长魏玉山说道。

Experts believe that children’s stories, academic reports and classic literature should still be read on paper.

专家认为儿童故事、学术报告和经典文学仍然需要读纸质版的。

"The main purpose of WeChat is entertainment and web browsing. I don’t recommend children to start their reading on WeChat as its tendency to disperse children’s attention is not beneficial in shaping good reading habits for them. Reading on paper lets you read without disruptions. You can read and think at the same time," said Wang.

“微信的主要功能是娱乐和浏览网页。不建议青少年的阅读从微信开始，因为会导致他们的注意力分散，并且不利于塑造良好的阅读习惯。纸质版的阅读使读者不受干扰，可以在阅读的同时进行思考。”王余光说道。

Nevertheless, Wang is not denying the benefits of WeChat. "We should research more into the beneficial effects of reading on the WeChat platform."

然而，王余光并未否认微信的好处：“我们要深入研究，使微信平台上的阅读产生更多的有利影响。”