In 1995, 10-year-old Zhou Qinggui from Hangtou, a village in the city of Linyi, Shandong province, was expected to drop out of school after elementary level due to poverty. A passionate reader who carried books while tending livestock and gathering pigweed, Zhou was heartbroken.

To allow the boy to continue his education, his mother borrowed money, and his elder brother and younger sister both gave up schooling, one after the other.

In 2021, Zhou and six childhood friends — truck drivers, ride-hailing drivers, decorators, small hardware store owners — raised more than 80,000 yuan ($11,730) and turned Zhou's old, 240-square-meter house into a library where village children could study and read.

In 2019, Zhou, then a PhD candidate at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, returned to the village — which has a population of 8,000 to 10,000, including many children whose parents work elsewhere — for thesis work.

Walking around, he found that despite economic gains, with factories replacing wheat fields, there was a lack of quiet reading spaces. While many families were better off than before, the absence of a reading culture had led to excessive time spent on entertainment, and without college graduate role models, children hesitated to dream big.

"To improve the cultural climate, education is key, and building a library could be a concrete step forward," Zhou wrote in his WeChat public account.

"It should be a cultural space that can provide a wider spiritual world for children to elevate their confidence and broaden their vision, rather than a space for kids to finish their homework," Zhou said.

He named the library Siyuan — which means "remember the source" in Chinese — after his alma mater's motto: "Drink water and remember the source; love your country and honor your school."

His 70-year-old father manages the library as a volunteer. Retired teachers from nearby schools also help, organizing books, creating reading lists and guiding children.

Over five years, the library has collected more than 20,000 volumes, from children's picture books to classics.

Now the Siyuan Library serves as a study and reading space for over 30 people, and its visitor register has recorded more than 1,000 names. To attract more children, Zhou, now a teacher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, gives remote lessons on a regular basis. During winter and summer breaks, he returns to the village to discuss daily studies, college entrance exam goals and career planning. He also invites the university's alumni to give talks, and organizes exchange activities with key city middle schools.

Gradually, Zhou has seen the library grow into a cherished learning space. In the beginning, bad habits such as littering were common. But he stressed that the library was meant to teach not only knowledge, but also moral values. Now, students tidy up before they leave.

Furthermore, while village children pick up good study habits and confidence, their parents have also embraced a new habit — reading together with their children.

Zhou took great pride when 14 village students entered universities in 2024. In 2025, that number rose to 34, making him even happier.

He plans to open two or three more branches in other villages, using the same principles — the libraries should genuinely help a large number of people, and access should always be free.

"I hope to use a platform like the Siyuan Library to leverage the power of the humanities to help drive economic and social progress," he said.

Zhou's efforts are part of a broader national movement to promote reading and cultivate a book-loving society in China.

In a letter to the First National Conference on Reading in April 2022, President Xi Jinping said: "Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtues. It enlightens us and helps us aim high and stand upright. … I hope that all our children will have a habit of reading, enjoy reading and grow up in a healthy way. I wish all of our people are engaged in reading and contribute to an atmosphere where everyone loves reading, has good books to read and knows how to gain from reading."

For decades, China has been trying to provide an environment conducive to reading, including the promotion of reading among all people in the annual government work report for 13 consecutive years.

And so, thanks to years of effort, a book-loving society is taking shape. Between 2012 and 2024, the overall reading rate among adult citizens in China rose steadily, from 76.3 percent to 82.1 percent, according to Xinhua News Agency.

During the 2025 two sessions, the annual gatherings of the nation's top legislative and political advisory bodies, Xi pointed out that the "aroma of books" represents a desirable cultural atmosphere, and he called for fostering a book-loving society in which people read widely, choose good books and draw wisdom and nourishment from them.

On Feb 1, a State Council regulation to promote reading among the public took effect. The regulation establishes the fourth week of April each year as "National Reading Week", with the first such week running from Monday to April 26 this year.

In Beijing, the 2026 Spring Book Fair — the city's first large-scale cultural gathering centered around physical bookstores — kicked off on Saturday and will run through May 17. With over 2,000 bookstores participating in four major venues — Chaoyang Park, Nanyuan Forest Wetland Park, Shougang Industrial Heritage Park and the Old Summer Palace — the fair offers readers an engaging and interactive cultural environment.

In addition, Nanchang, Jiangxi province, is hosting this year's National Conference on Reading from Monday to Wednesday, featuring a series of events such as book fairs and exhibitions.

Speaking at a symposium at China University of Political Science and Law on May 3, 2017, President Xi called for young people to cherish their time, be diligent in their studies and settle down to read more classics.

Dan Hansong, a professor of English language and literature at Nanjing University, said that teachers should create an environment in which genuine reading is valued, rather than overwhelming them with excessive assignments.

Because he finds it difficult to ensure independent work when assigning take-home final papers, he focuses instead on the reading process itself and encourages students to share personal reactions to texts.

As public libraries play a crucial role in the building of a book-loving society, China now has over 3,200 public libraries at the county level and above, along with nearly 68,000 library branches and service points.

In a reply letter to experts from the National Library of China on Sept 8, 2019, Xi said that libraries are an important symbol of a country's cultural development and an important place to nourish the people's spiritual world and cultivate cultural confidence.