Bookstores in Kunming have declined from 3738 to 3155, according to statistics of the Press and Publication Bureau of Yunnan province, from 2008 to 2011.

Because of the growing tendency of on-line reading and e-books, the traditional bookstores have faced a difficult situation. Fiction is the kind of book which has been affected heavily and lots of small bookstores or bookstalls are restructuring theirs main business into magazines instead of fictions.

Not merely the book industry, the traditional industry has been stroke and influenced by the new things. For instance, with the spread of digital cameras, new generation has gotten use of editing with software like Photoshop and uploading them to internet. The traditional film developing store encounters renovation and need to adopt for new situation.

Another statistics from the Press and Publication Bureau of Yunnan province shows that dates from 2009, the audio and video products wholesalers in Kunming have reduced from 32 to 20. Cassettes are hard to find nowadays. It was replaced by the cheaper and more convenient mp3 player. Mr.lu, who has worked in audio and video products industry more than 13 year, said that the cheapest mp3 player costs only 20 Yuan, but the price with CD player is hundreds Yuan. Furthermore, consumers are able to download songs unlimitedly to the mp3 player, advantages are significant.

However, people still consider the traditional industry will be not replaced by new rising things. “Although the sales in our bookstore have significantly decreased, but I do believe paper books are irreplaceable”, said Miss Yang, staff in North Door book store. (Reporter, Simon Zhang, editor, Minnie Mao)

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