Li applauds 24-hour bookstore_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Li applauds 24-hour bookstore

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Pulling an all-nighter just got the highest endorsement - Premier Li Keqiang has put his weight behind Beijing's first 24/7 bookstore, calling it a "spiritual landmark" that will empower readers.

The 82-year-old Sanlian bookstore in Beijing officially started its around-the-clock operation on Wednesday, which was World Book Day, after 10 days of trial run.

Li's letter of praise was sent to the bookstore on the eve of the launch.

"It (the late-night bookstore) is a very inspirational measure," Li said in the letter addressed to all the staff of the bookstore. "It will greatly raise the awareness for reading."

Li, long known as an avid reader, said that reading is the solution to coping with an ever-changing society.

"Reading makes you calm, reading makes you resourceful," Li said in the letter. "It will slowly shape the person, give him/her a peaceful state of mind as well as an optimistic attitude to strive for goals."

Li's comments came amid a nationwide campaign in support of reading. A national regulation that will guarantee the allocation of funding and resources for public reading is taking shape.

Additionally, this year's Government Work Report has included promotion of public reading in its agenda. Moving libraries, community reading centers and other reading facilities are being built across the country.

"Reading has a lasting effect on the moral status of the entire society," Li's letter said. "I hope the 24/7 bookstore will be the spiritual landmark that leads more to the habit of reading and lets knowledge empower them."