書香社會 (shūxiāng shèhuì): A nation of avid readers

In his Government Work Report this year, Premier Li Keqiang proposed encouraging a love of reading to build a nation of avid readers. To achieve that goal, China will further propel the standardization of basic public cultural services, and extend the range of free cultural facilities open to the public.

In modern society, the habit of reading has been challenged by the popularity of new media. The national reading rate in China continues to fall and the average number of books that a person reads a year is fewer than that in many other countries, which makes it a social problem that should get attention. Reading helps build the spiritual home of a person, as well as a nation. Many people have appealed for reading to be regarded as a national strategy and for it to be comprehensively promoted.

To promote reading and build a society of avid readers, we should make everyone in our society realize the significance of reading, and provide the necessary access to public cultural services to citizens.