The sales of books in China's physical bookstores declined by nearly 3 percent in the first half of this year over the same period last year, while online book sales saw an increase of more than 20 percent, data released at the Shanghai Book Fair last Thursday showed.

上海书展上周四公布的数据显示，今年上半年，在中国实体书店，书籍的销量同比下降了近3%，而在线图书销售则同比增长超过了20%。

According to data from OpenBook, a Beijing-based publishing market monitor and information service provider, sales of books in China between January and June this year increased by 11.37 percent over the same period last year, though the pace of growth slowed down.

北京出版市场监测和信息服务提供商开卷信息技术有限公司的数据显示，在今年1至6月，尽管增速有所放缓，但全国的图书销量同比增长了11.37%。

The sale price of children's books made up a large part of overall sales at 26.25 percent, followed by social science books at 24.57 percent.

儿童读物的销售占总销售额的很大一部分，为26.25%，其次是社会科学书籍，为24.57%。

Jiang Xiliang, president of OpenBook, pointed¹ out that physical bookstores should lay more emphasis on the services rather than just selling books.

开卷信息技术有限公司的总裁蒋晞亮指出，实体书店应该更加注重服务，而不仅仅是卖书。

According to Xu Jiong, director of the city's press and publications administration, last year there were more than 20 new physical bookstores opened in Shanghai, and a similar number will open this year.

上海市新闻出版局局长徐炯表示，去年有超过20家书店在上海开张，与今年开张的书店一样多。

Shanghai-based Dayin Bookmall said at the conference that they will have a total of 11 new stores opening this year.

总部位于上海的大隐书局在会议上表示，他们今年总共会有11家新店开业。

Besides the variety of books, they also provide activities relating to Chinese culture, including bamboo weaving, paper cutting, ceramics², tea practice, flower arrangement and ancient Chinese plucked instrument playing.

除了各种各样的书籍之外，他们也提供了各种有关中国文化的活动，包括竹编、剪纸、陶艺、茶道、插花和中国古代拨弦乐器演奏等。