ABeijingresidentreadswithMintReadingTheworryofdecliningEnglishlanguageproficiencyhasbeenrattlinginLiangRui鈥檚headsinceshegraduatedfromtheUniversityofHuddersfieldthreeyearsago.WorkingataprivatecompanyinherhometownTaiyuan,capitalofnorthChina鈥檚ShanxiProvince,the26-year-oldwomanhadsuchatightdailyschedulethatshecouldnotsparetimeforherhobbyofreadingEnglishclassics.
HersituationhasnowimprovedthankstoamobilereadingappcalledMintReading.ShenowstartsherdaywithadeliciousbreakfastandabrowseonMintReadingtoenjoysomelinesfromhernewly-purchasedEnglishe-bookHowtoStopWorryingandStartLiving,anexactreflectionofherrecentchangeover.
鈥淭heappassignsataskofreadingfor10minutesadayandelaboratesonthediscoursesothatreaderscanreallylearnsomethingfromreading.It鈥檚convenientandefficient,鈥滾iangtoldChinAfrica.Shepaid139yuan($22)fora100-dayreadingprogramandissatisfiedwithherprogress.鈥淚thelpsutilizemyfragmentarytime,andIhavefinishedtwoEnglishoriginalworksevenwithoutnoticingit,鈥漵headded.
LiangisoneoftheincreasinglyanxiousChinesepeoplewhoareeagertocontinuestudiessoastostandoutamidahighlycompetitivecountry,butaretoopreoccupiedwithdailyworkandtrivialmatters.Manyofthemresorttovariousonlinecourses,whichareprolificthankstocurrentadvancedtechnology,leadingthem,unconsciously,tobecomeconsumersofthefledgingpay-for-knowledgeindustry.
ArecentreportbyiiMediaRe颅search,aChineseInternetinvestmentanalyticsfirm,revealedthattheindustrygeneratedrevenueof4.91billionyuan($772million)in2016,athree-foldincreaseyearonyear.By2020,themarketvalueisexpectedtoamountto23.5billionyuan($3.7billion).Insidersobservedthattheessenceofthepay-for-knowledgeindustryistodigintothecommercialpotentialofknowledgeandconvertitintoprofitableproductsorservices.
Seeingthevalue
Theyearof2016isdubbedanepochyearforthepay-for-knowledgeindustry.TheChineseequivalenceofQuoraQ&A,asitecalledZhihu,mobilelearningappslikeiGet,andXimalayaFM,anaudiosharingplatform,sawasurgeinsubscribersandproductvarietiesinthatyear.