In China’s rural areas, a network of over a dozen libraries under the name “Fuxing (meaning revitalization) Library” is offering local residents spaces to learn, relax, and connect. Established by China International Communications Group (CICG), the Fuxing Library initiative uses books to support rural revitalization by delivering free books with convenient access to all.

Since 2018, CICG has built 16 such libraries and donated over 130,000 books to locations including Zuoquan County in north China’s Shanxi Province, Fengdu County in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, Shibadong Village in central China’s Hunan Province, Longyan City in southeast China’s Fujian Province, Jiasheng Village in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, and Minning Town in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Over the years, these reading facilities have become essential for fostering a love of reading and enriching rural life.

A Valley Library 

Jiasheng Village in Yunnan is nestled among towering mountains. It is home to multiple ethnic groups, including the Lisu, Tibetan, Dong, Dulong, and Qiang peoples. On June 17, 2024, the Jiasheng Village Fuxing Library was officially inaugurated. Converted from a former exhibition room, this library now houses 1,358 books, becoming the first modern library with a comprehensive collection in this multi-ethnic village.

“I always felt sorry that I didn’t have time to read with my child. Now, with so many picture books in the library, my child spends much more time reading and doesn’t want to put them down. It’s much better than her staring at phone screens,” said Wang Qingsheng, deputy Party chief of Jiasheng Village in an interview with China Today. His daughter, a kindergartener, and his niece who is about to enter middle school, are both regular visitors to the library. The children’s books never fail to bring them great joy.

Beyond children’s books, the library also offers books printed in ethnic minority languages – cherished by local residents. These books help preserve cultural roots and linguistic diversity in this once deeply impoverished region.

Wang himself is an avid reader. Despite his busy schedule, he spends up to an hour during lunch breaks reading books on farming and animal husbandry. “These books help me solve practical problems so I can better serve the community,” he said.

At the library’s inaugural ceremony, He Guilian, a member of the Standing Committee of the Nujiang Prefectural Party Committee and head of the Prefecture’s Publicity Department, noted, “This is not only a learning space for villagers, but also a center for advancing rural cultural development.”

On the same day, Foreign Languages Press, a CICG subsidiary, donated a series of books ranging from leadership works, and Party and government publications, to items on culture and literature, foreign language learning materials, and popular reading. The collection continues to expand. “By the end of 2025, over 100 new books had been added,” Wang said. He hopes more children’s literature will be included in the future, “so that children can see a broader world.”

Three teenagers read books at the Fuxing Library in Jiasheng Village in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. 

Enriched Cultural Life 

Shibadong Village in Hunan is known as the birthplace of China’s concept of “targeted poverty alleviation.” In November 2023, a Fuxing Library was inaugurated there, with 1,690 books donated in three batches.

This library is not only a place for villagers to learn but also an important window for telling China’s poverty alleviation stories. Foreign Languages Press has published multilingual books such as Ten Years of Journey in Shibadong Village: Why China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation Succeeded, which documents through images the decade-long effort to lift the village out of poverty. In collaboration with Hunan People’s Publishing Press, it also released Witness: The Poverty Alleviation Story and Modernization Insights of Shibadong Village, vividly narrating the village’s path to prosperity. These books are now displayed on the shelves, making the library a living archive of China’s rural transformation.

“With the Fuxing Library, more people come here and fall in love with reading. A good reading habit is taking shape,” said a representative from the Foreign Languages Press. Regular reading events and seminars are transforming the legacy of targeted poverty alleviation into sustained momentum for rural revitalization, while also helping visitors and scholars better understand China’s rural modernization.

In September 2024, a Fuxing Library was built in the once-barren mining town. Containing 1,613 books, it fosters a deep passion for reading in this community of people who relocated here through poverty alleviation cooperation between China’s east and west regions. Here, the reading craze carries meaning beyond reading itself: it is a cultural symbol of regional cooperation and a bond that helps relocated-residents soothe homesickness and embrace modern life.

The transformation of mining town is a prime example of China’s poverty alleviation achievements. In this spirit, alongside agricultural books, the Fuxing Library here also features publications on China’s development experience. With the participation of Wisdom Palace International Cultural Communication Group, the library has now taken on an international communication role, serving both as a classroom for villagers and a window to showcase China’s achievements to the world.

In Zuoquan County, Shanxi Province, the Fuxing Library initiative has been a fixture for years. Since 2017, books worth RMB 1.57 million have been donated to nine schools, including Siyuan School, Nanjie Primary School, and Zuoquan No. 3 Middle School. In May 2024, another Fuxing Library was inaugurated at the 1941 Training Base in Tongyu Town, with a donation of 10,000 books In this revolutionary base area, these books not only fill gaps in reading resources but also play a vital role in preserving Chinese culture and promoting positive social values.

Promoting Nationwide Reading

Committed to providing free access to information and knowledge for all, the Fuxing Library initiative has expanded beyond rural areas into urban communities, leadership academies, and democratic party organizations. In February 2025, a library was established at the Employee Service Center of the China Democratic Construction Association’s Sichuan Provincial Committee in Chengdu, housing 3,236 books donated by CICG.

According to a CICG official, the initiative aims to promote a love of reading, bring nationwide reading atmosphere into both rural and urban communities, and enable more people to experience the connecting power of books while participating in rural cultural development.

From the Nujiang canyons to the depths of the Taihang Mountains, and from Miao villages in western Hunan to the Gobi Desert of Ningxia, 16 Fuxing Libraries are culturally driving rural revitalization.

When Wang Qingsheng reads about animal husbandry in Jiasheng Village, when villagers in Shibadong revisit a decade of change through images, and when the children of a mining town engage with the wider world through picture books, these cultural centers scattered across the countryside fulfill their mission: to disseminate knowledge, improve people’s wellbeing, and bridge the last mile of reading in rural China.