Illustration: Liu Xiangya/GT

Picture a city where every airport lounge, subway station, and even the corner bank lobby features shelves lined with books - spaces where teenagers, seniors, and commuters pause to read, not just scroll. Imagine traveling on a high-speed train, and instead of defaulting to a mobile phone, travelers borrow a book for the journey, enjoying moments of quiet focus amid the digital noise. This is not a Utopian vision, but a future that China's new national reading promotion regulation (draft) aims to bring within reach.

Approved by the State Council executive meeting on Thursday, this legislation marks a leap for reading in China: What was once a cultural campaign has become a matter of public law. The regulation promises to ensure the right to read, expand access to quality content, and create a more inclusive reading environment for all - from curious children to lifelong learners. 

Since 2014, "national reading" has been included in China's government work report for 12 consecutive years. China's overall national reading rate increased from 76.3 percent in 2012 to 82.1 percent in 2024. This regulation, through legislation, formalizes existing practices, experiences, and models of national reading into institutional arrangements, clarifying the principles, objectives, tasks, and measures for promoting reading nationwide, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The significance of this regulation cannot be overstated. For years, "national reading" has been a slogan, a campaign, and a hope voiced by educators and cultural advocates. Variety of actions are being taken across the country to promote reading for all. 

For instance, Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province has integrated the city's literary spirit into its transportation network in recent years, introducing "subway self-service libraries" and offering digital reading resources, including 24/7 audiobook services accessible by QR codes. Meanwhile, the Shanxi Provincial Library has created themed reading rooms, such as a Fairy Tale Room and Literature Room, and organized lectures like "Shanxi Province in ancient poetry," using interactive and dialogue-based formats to meet diverse reader needs, the China Culture Daily reported.

These activities have strengthened the social atmosphere of reading, but the rise of smartphones and short-form content such as short videos has created a paradox: Never has information been so abundant, yet never have human minds been so fragmented. Scrolling, swiping, and clicking have become second nature, but they rarely foster the kind of sustained attention or critical thinking that real reading demands.

In an age where algorithms dictate what people see and shrinking attention spans threaten deep thought, this regulation is more than a policy - it is a timely intervention to transform promotion into guarantee, Zhang Peng, a cultural researcher and associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

By emphasizing the supply of "high-quality content," the regulation confronts the problem of low-value, algorithm-driven content online today. Publishers, as providers of high-quality content, are at a crucial stage of shifting from expansion to quality improvement, noted Wu Shulin, president of the Publishers Association of China, at the recent 2025 Publishing Imprint Influence Conference.

Zhang, who is also the president of a publishing house, said the legislation will push the publishing sector from a focus on quantity to one on quality: First, by strengthening targeted publishing and developing graded reading materials for key groups such as youth, the elderly, and people with disabilities; second, by embracing technological integration and supporting digital and audio reading to complement the depth of traditional reading with the breadth of digital media; third, by promoting the transformation of physical bookstores from simple retail spaces into reading hubs.

Physical bookstore operators are also paying close attention to the introduction and implementation of this regulation. 

Liu Yating, manager of the branch of the Librairie Avant-Garde bookstore in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, told the Global Times on Sunday that the regulation offers more opportunities for brick-and-mortar bookstores to engage with a wider range of readers and organizations through cultural activities. 

"As a window for cultural exchange, bookstores serve as an ideal bridge between books and readers. In my view, beyond carefully curating book selections and providing a welcoming reading environment, hosting a variety of cultural and artistic events within a bookstore is also an effective way to promote reading," Liu said, sharing her experience.

Yet, legislation alone cannot build a nation of readers. Regulation is a catalyst, but the roots of reading must grow deeper. Social atmosphere, family habits, and personal motivation are also important engines of a reading culture. Laws can open doors and set expectations, but it is the joy of discovery, the comfort of a bedtime story, or the thrill of understanding a new idea that turn reading from obligation into a lifelong habit.

In this sense, the regulation also serves as a public reminder: to parents, to teachers, to communities, that reading is not just a matter of policy but of love and practice. Schools should foster not only literacy but curiosity; families should make space for shared reading; communities can celebrate books through festivals and clubs. The law gives reading a stage, but society must fill it with life.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. life@globaltimes.com.cn