Eight departments jointly issue a notice to support physical bookstores in serving nationwide reading.

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 10 (Reporter Yang Zhanfei) To implement the "Regulations on Promoting Nationwide Reading" and carry out the tasks of the 2026 Government Work Report, the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Central Social Work Department, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration recently jointly issued the "Notice of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and Other Departments on Supporting Physical Bookstores in Serving Nationwide Reading." The notice proposes improving the quality of bookstore supply, implementing the "Thousand Store Managers" growth training program, enhancing bookstores' ability to select titles, establishing a public database of "bookstore keynote speakers," promoting Xinhua Bookstore's renewal of store outlets, encouraging differentiated development of private bookstores, and relying on bookstores to carry out reading promotion volunteer service activities. It is necessary to cultivate distinctive reading spaces, create a group of landmark bookstores, distinctive bookstores, themed bookstores, and "small and beautiful" spaces, integrate them into urban renewal actions, and incorporate them into complete communities and the urban 15-minute convenient living circle. The notice stipulates supporting bookstores' participation in public cultural services, undertaking the operation and management of grassroots nationwide reading facilities, library collection services, and reading activities, promoting deep integration between bookstores and public cultural institutions, and incorporating them, in light of actual conditions, into the county-level public library central-branch library system and the scope of support for new public cultural spaces. It is necessary to empower the construction of scholarly campuses, encourage bookstores to build off-campus reading guidance classrooms and reading practice bases, participate in the construction of school reading spaces, themed reading activities, and the renewal and supplementation of library books, and support the construction of campus bookstores. The notice makes clear the need to strengthen financial support and guidance. Local governments should support bookstores in equally participating in government purchase of services projects such as undertaking public reading services. The central government should provide performance-based rewards. All localities should drive book reading and sales by issuing public-benefit book purchase vouchers and nationwide reading consumption vouchers. It is necessary to help bookstores reduce costs and increase efficiency, encourage state-owned enterprises and public institutions to reduce or exempt rents and other fees, optimize the processing procedures for diversified business licenses of bookstores, promote the integration of Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co., Ltd., promote bookstore map navigation, and continuously standardize the order of online book distribution. The notice proposes that all localities and relevant departments should establish and practice a correct view of political performance, refine measures according to local conditions around various work arrangements, establish a coordinated promotion work mechanism, and promote the formation of a strong atmosphere in which all sectors of society support the development of bookstores and participate in nationwide reading. This article is reprinted from "Xinhuanet Co., Ltd.", edited by GMTEight: Feng Qiuyi.