China's digest periodical Reader has defeated domestic and overseas competitors and become one of the world's most read magazines, according to the International Federation of the Periodical Press' (FIPP) latest statistics.

As of January 2004, the total circulation of Reader, a semimonthly, had topped 800 million, ranking the fourth among magazines worldwide, only after Reader's Digest, National Geographic and Time magazines published in the United States, noted FIPP.

"We are optimistic of publishing more than 100 million copies monthly within the coming two years," said Hu Yaquan, one of the magazine founders. "We still have great potential in a vast number of small cities, schools and the overseas market."

First published in 1981, Reader has ranked in the top ten in circulation among Chinese magazines for 13 consecutive years, with its monthly circulation exceeding eight million in October and November 2003, the largest monthly periodical circulation in China today.

Peng Changcheng, Reader's editor-in-chief, told a New Year press conference last Sunday that the periodical would expand even faster as it began to be circulated in the United States and Canada in 2004.

Earlier in August 2003, the Gansu Provincial People's Press, Reader's publisher, signed a five-year contract, involving a total of 4.5 million US dollars, with US-based company Big Way Media Inc.in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province to push the magazine in the North American market.

Prestigious in China for its high quality and heart-warming humanistic style, Reader is a digest periodical with highly-readable articles, previously published or original, contributed by millions of its readers.

The magazine was originally named Reader's Digest, which resulted in a copyright dispute with the American magazine Reader's Digest. In 1993, the Chinese digest magazine changed its original name to Reader, ending the year-long legal dispute.
 
(Xinhua News Agency January 7, 2004)