CPPCC member Zhang Yudong echoed Zhu's proposal, calling to establish China's own reading festival and adopt nationwide reading as a national strategy.

"Relevant legislation should be introduced as soon as possible to ensure the strategy can be properly enforced," Zhang added.

CPPCC member Feng Yuan, another exponent of the initiative of nationwide reading, suggested examples be set for more Chinese to follow and then help them get into the habit of reading.

"I suggest government departments join hands to gradually list a person's reading volume as one of the key performance indicators when evaluating people like civil servants, military officers and employees of state-owned enterprises," said Feng, vice-president of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.