The fifth National Conference on Reading kicked off in Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, on April 20, also heralding the launch of the first National Reading Week in China.

A State Council (China’s Cabinet) regulation that took effect on Feb 1 2026 designated the fourth week of April as National Reading Week.

The 23rd National Reading Survey was released at the conference. It shows that in 2025, 82.3 percent of Chinese adults engaged in reading. Among under-18s, 86.7 percent read books, and 75.9 percent engaged in digital reading, both figures up from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the National Digital Reading Report, which was also released at the conference, shows that, in 2025, the number of digital reading users in China stood at 689 million, up 2.95 percent year-on-year.