The 2026 Beijing Book Fair opened on Thursday amid China's endeavor to promote public reading.
The book fair is set at the China International Exhibition Center in Chaoyang District, covering an area of 50,000 square meters and presenting more than 400,000 titles with over 2,700 booths.
A new regulation the country just rolled out, which will take effect on Feb. 1, aims to raise the intellectual, moral, scientific, and cultural standards of the Chinese people and enhance overall social civility, contributing to China's efforts to build itself into a country with a strong socialist culture.
Major publishing groups and institutions are also seizing this opportunity to align with the implementation of national policies and regulations to gain a competitive edge in the industry.
"In planning our publishing strategy for 2026, the regulation to promote public reading is a great boon to our book industry. We will deepen our presence in the market of Chinese language and writing reference books, and further our efforts to integrate digital and intelligent technologies to empower the publishing industry following the concept of building an independent Chinese knowledge system," said Gu Qing, Party secretary of the Commercial Press.
Publishers pledge that they will leverage their strengths in serving economic growth hotspots and turn out more high-quality books in alignment with national strategies.
"We should leverage the current booming industries in the economic development, and the rich audio-video and film resources, to create and public good books in formats to the liking of the people," said Zhu Yanbo, head of marketing department of China Radio and Television Publishing House.
"Like the trilogy of Conscience Challenge (an anti-corruption novel) we published, the sales volume of its first print was over a million copies, and the reprint has now sold over 200,000 copies. How to make books closer to life and people is something our publishing industry should focus on," said Liu Haitao, Party secretary of China Democracy Legal System Publishing House.
2026 Beijing Book Fair opens
China's two major power grid operators -- the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- reported a surge in investment in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring efforts to strengthen infrastructure construction and support high-quality socioeconomic development in China.
The State Grid said it completed fixed-asset investment worth 129 billion yuan (about 18.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, up 37 percent the corresponding period of the previous year. The spending has driven more than 250 billion yuan (36 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across the wider industrial chain.
Key projects such as the Panxi ultra-high-voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) line and the Anhui-Hubei back-to-back direct current (DC) project have seen ground broken for their construction, while several west-to-east power transmission projects have been upgraded.
Investment in connecting renewable energy generation to the grid was reported to have exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, a year-on-year rise of more than 50 percent.
The CSG also reported robust growth in investment in the three-month period, with fixed-asset investment reaching 38.45 billion yuan (5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Among its achievements, the company completed and commissioned 80 key projects, including the 220 kV cross-sea power grid interconnection project, which was officially put into operation on March 20. The project ended years of grid isolation on the Weizhou Island in south China by linking it to the main power system of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The construction of 17 other major energy projects, including one linking the power grid of the Xizang Autonomous Region in southwest China with that of Guangdong Province in south China, is advancing rapidly. These projects are expected to bolster regional industries, the maritime economy, digital collaboration and the transition to green energy.
"By accelerating major project construction, investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) is expected to approach 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars), driving a further 2 trillion yuan (290 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across upstream and downstream industries," said Dong Yanle, deputy general manager of the Engineering Construction Department under the China Southern Power Grid.
China ramps up power grid investment in January-March to boost growth
