The task was easier said than done. Zhong and her husband were heavy phone users, scrolling through short videos, replying to messages, and binge-watching shows for two or three hours every night after work. Their son copied them. He clung to his tablet, switching between cartoons and games, ignoring any mention of books.

"We realized the problem wasn't our son. It was us," Zhong told Beijing Review.

So they made a decision at the beginning of last year: Put down the phones and become readers themselves. They bought a new bookshelf and a lot of books and scattered them across the living room, the bedroom, even the bathroom. Then they established a family ritual: Every night from 8 to 9 p.m., one hour with no screens. Everyone reads.

At first, their son wasn't having it. He would flip through a picture book for two pages, toss it aside, and glance longingly at the tablet. Zhong didn't push. She and her husband just kept reading. Slowly, the boy became curious. From 10 minutes a day to 20, then to an hour. Now she's happy to see that her son falls asleep with a book on his chest more nights than not.

Zhong's story found a national echo. A national regulation on promoting reading among the public took effect on February 1, setting out measures to improve reading facilities and services, as well as to reinforce relevant mechanisms.

"That means libraries within walking distance, affordable children's books, and workplaces that don't punish parents for leaving on time to read with their kids. I hope that more policies will come along," Zhong said.

A growing habit 

Exposure to books among Chinese children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 reached 86.7 percent in 2025, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, according to a survey launched by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication and released in April at the Fifth National Conference on Reading. Children and adolescents read an average of 11.72 books per person in 2025, and spent 36.82 minutes each day reading physical books.

Adults are following a similar but slower trajectory. In 2025, 82.3 percent of Chinese adults engaged in reading in any format, including print books, newspapers, journals and digital devices—up 0.2 percentage points from 82.1 percent in 2024.

The survey also found that Chinese adults read an average of 8.39 paper books and e-books per person in 2025, up 0.08 from the previous year.

"These numbers may look modest at first glance. But given the digital age we live in, where screens dominate nearly every waking moment and short videos compete for every spare second of attention, any increase at all is worth noting," Jiao Yun, a professional working in the publishing industry in Changchun, Jilin Province, told Beijing Review.

Jiao noted that people's attention spans have seriously declined. Opening a book is one thing; staying with it without reaching for a phone is another. Buying books without reading them has become the norm. Some young people, he added, become addicted to shallow entertainment and are unwilling to engage in deep reading. After entering the workforce, many find it difficult to settle down and read, requiring deliberate effort to create a reading-friendly environment.

Yet government efforts are providing a supportive backdrop. The regulation on promoting reading among the public designates the fourth week of April each year as National Reading Week, which was observed for the first time this year.

Across the country, events sprang to life, including lectures and book fairs, salons and book donations, all aimed at nurturing a culture of reading.

The period from April 21 to 26 saw a creative push to reclaim lost attention spans in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The Hangzhou Xinhua Bookstore, Hangzhou Public Library and the Zhejiang Wenlan Library Foundation jointly launched an event titled Spring Reading Circle: One Hour of Immersive Reading. Across 16 locations in the city, organizers set up reading spaces where participants were asked to silence their phones and read quietly for one hour. Those who completed the challenge received a blind bag of book-themed gifts.

Hebei Province took a different tack, offering 3 million yuan ($440,000) in book coupons during its book fair. A 25-percent discount was given on new books, while other books were discounted by 50 percent or more. Paper vouchers and electronic coupons made the deals accessible to all.

"Beijing launched similar promotional activities," Zhong said. "We've already benefited from some of them. Every discount, every event brings us one step closer to becoming a reading-friendly city."

The reading gap 

The regulation that came into effect on February 1 calls for targeted support for reading initiatives in rural areas, ethnic minority regions, border areas and less-developed regions, as well as improved access to reading for minors, people with disabilities and the elderly.

Despite the new regulation, significant reading gaps remain. Through research, Duan Yanwen, Deputy Secretary General of the China Association of Press Technicians, found that the challenges are fourfold for people with visual and hearing disabilities: too few accessible books, poor quality of available materials, difficult access due to complex licensing and a lack of trained professionals. China has about 17.3 million visually impaired people, but public libraries hold very few Braille books.

Duan told China Publishing and Media Journal that he hopes to see change in three to five years. In his vision, Braille sections, audio devices and sign language resources would be available in every library and bookstore. Bestsellers and textbooks would be quickly converted into accessible formats.

For older adults, the problems are similar—small fonts, heavy bindings or narrow topics. There is too little reading material designed for aging eyes. There are also not enough physical spaces where seniors can comfortably read.

Peng Jie, a research officer of the China National Committee on Ageing, suggests publishers create more varied large print and audio books. Libraries could also offer book-delivery services and every community library could install a dedicated bookshelf for senior citizens.

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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