Physical books can be extremely hard to find from outside of China — and delivery costs are very costly when buying directly from China. Chinese eBook availability on platforms such as Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Kobo Books is usually very limited and region-locked. Fortunately, China does offer its own range of digital services for published books and webnovels, as such, reading digitally on Chinese services is the best, cheapest and most accessible option.
<aside> <img src="/icons/book_red.svg" alt="/icons/book_red.svg" width="40px" /> Chinese webnovels are different from fan fiction or self-published novels, in fact, they closely mirror their traditionally published fellows. For more information see Chinese Media Explained.
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Social login is usually available, just like many overseas services, however, with the caveat that only Chinese social login services are offered. Apple login is sometimes offered when using the app on an Apple device. The two most common social login services are WeChat (微信) and Weibo (微博). Almost every service offers WeChat login (either with the WeChat app on the device or by scanning the login QR code using WeChat), so we recommend setting up an account as soon as possible.
Telephone number login is the next most common method, however, with the biggest caveat that oversea telephones number are sometimes not supported.
Email addresses or username login are rarely offered, this is more common on Taiwanese platforms or really old platforms.
For Apple users, Apple Pay is always available as a payment option when making purchases via the app. Paying with Apple Pay is often more expensive due to Apple’s high transaction charge.
For Android users, Google Pay or PayPal are unfortunately rarely available when making purchases from an Android product. Direct payment with an overseas credit or debit card is sometimes accepted when making a payment with Alipay (支付宝) or WeChat Pay (微信支付), both of these are common Chinese payment services.
For computer/laptop users, payment with a credit or debit card, PayPal, or Taobao is sometimes offered. AliPay (支付宝) and/or WeChat Pay (微信支付) are usually always available.
<aside> 🍎 For non-Apple users, purchasing or borrowing an old second-hand Apple device to be used solely for paying for Chinese services is also an option.
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Contents are generally extremely cheap. For webnovels, $1 can usually buy 50-100 chapters.
<aside> 📖 If you want a paper-like reading experience, consider purchasing a Boox (文石) e-reader (电子书阅读器). All popular Chinese digital reading apps are available to download from the Boox app store. Check out our E-ink Readers for Chinese Novels guide for device comparison and further details.
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