“The purpose of implementing the ‘Rural Bookstores’ Project is to resolve the difficulties of the peasants in ‘buying, borrowing and reading books’ and realize the basic cultural rights of the peasants. ”, said Zhou Suqin, Group Leader of the Leading Group of Guangzhou Rural Bookstores Project Construction and Communist Party Secretary of the Administration of Press, Publication, Radio and Television of Guangzhou Municipality at the press conference of “Rural Bookstores” and “Green Online Community” held on December 18th, 2007. Three years from now, Guangzhou will have completed its public reading service system symbolized with “Rural Bookstores”(“Community Bookstores”), covering all the administrative villages of Guangzhou, transitional communities and the industrial parks that pool rural migrant workers, five years ahead of the national schedule.

According to Ouyang Yue’e, Office Director of the Leading Group of Guangzhou Rural Bookstores (Community Bookstores) Project Construction, the construction of Guangzhou’s Rural Bookstores Project was launched in the last ten-day of August, this year. The relevant government authorities set the target of the project as oriented with government investment, encouraging the participation of social funding, focusing on the peasants, transitional community residents and rural migrant workers. Currently, 60 demonstration points have been completed with over 100,000 books. In addition, Guangzhou initiated bringing the “Green Online Community” into the overall planning of the engineering of “Rural Bookstores”, setting up a green online community at the Rural Bookstores where applicable for peasants to go online.

(Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)

Source : english.gz.gov.cn