Beijing 24/7 bookstore

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang applauded the business idea of setting up Beijing's first 24-hour bookstore and encouraged the bookstore to turn itself into a spiritual landmark of the city, in a reply to a letter sent by the Sanlian Taofen Bookstore.

"The idea of setting up a 24-hour bookstore is a practice of 'nationwide reading,' demonstrating that inner strength and a quiet character are still needed in a changing age," Li said in the letter, which was released on the bookstore's website on Tuesday.

The "nationwide reading" campaign was proposed by Fan Xian, the general manager of the bookstore in January and was finally adopted by Li in a government work report in March.

The bookstore started 24-hour operations on Friday.

The average Chinese read 4.77 books in 2013, 0.38 books more than the 2012 figure, according to a survey conducted by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication ahead of World Reading Day, which falls on Wednesday.