diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 65c4a44..8298108 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name='zhconv',
-    version='1.4.2',
+    version='1.4.4',
     description="A simple implementation of Simplified-Traditional Chinese conversion.",
     long_description=LONGDESC,
     author='Dingyuan Wang',
diff --git a/zhconv/zhconv.py b/zhconv/zhconv.py
index 0a8d8e3..11fbaa9 100644
--- a/zhconv/zhconv.py
+++ b/zhconv/zhconv.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 """
 # Only Python3 can pass the doctest here due to unicode problems.
-__version__ = '1.4.2'
+__version__ = '1.4.4'
 
 import os
 import sys
@@ -30,8 +30,12 @@
 import json
 
 try:
-    from pkg_resources import resource_stream
-    get_module_res = lambda *res: resource_stream(__name__, os.path.join(*res))
+    if sys.version_info >= (3, 9):
+        from importlib.resources import files
+    else:
+        from importlib_resources import files
+
+    get_module_res = lambda *res: files(__name__).joinpath(*res).open('rb')
 except ImportError:
     get_module_res = lambda *res: open(os.path.normpath(
         os.path.join(os.getcwd(), os.path.dirname(__file__), *res)), 'rb')