Citing Wu Shangzhi, director of the administration's publications department, Xinhua reported that the "Promoting Nationwide Reading Regulation" aimed to "raise literacy rates in the country … improve facilities in public libraries … and offer systematic and financial support to the nationwide reading movement".

Indeed, government officials have reasons to worry about the country's literacy rates. According to the annual survey by the Chinese Academy of Press and Publication, which polled 18,600 people across the mainland, the average citizen read 4.4 paperback books last year.

Forty-five per cent of the interviewees aged between 18 and 70 said they had not read a single book in the entire year.

Among them, 43 per cent said they "had no time to read, or were too busy with work", while 36 per cent said they simply were not interested in reading. Other people polled said they spent more time watching television, had no idea what to read or could not find any books that interested them.

Beijing resident Xie Li, a 29-year-old white-collar worker, said he could barely remember when he last read a book. "I do like reading, but I am too busy, always occupied by work and family stuff," Xie said, slightly embarrassed.

The number of paperbacks mainlanders read annually has risen for seven consecutive years. But other nations read more - South Koreans, for example, read an average of 11 books a year, while Japanese read 8.5, the academy's president Hao Zhenxing told the in April.

About 54.6 million mainland adults, or 4 per cent of the population, were illiterate in 2010, according to the sixth national population census.

Such numbers, if true, should raise the alarm among mainland elites, especially leaders of the Communist Party who vowed to boost the mainland's soft cultural power as a part of its new "Age of Enlightenment" project.

Though the literacy regulation is still being drafted, Wu said the next step would be to seek opinions from government departments and the public before submitting the final version to the State Council by the end of the year.

News of the regulation, though an apparent attempt to encourage reading, has so far attracted more criticism than praise. Supporters hoped it would help protect publishers and cater to the reading interests of mainlanders. But a larger number were unimpressed, with some asking whether they would be breaking the law if they didn't read enough books.

Ge Jianxiong, a professor at Fudan University and a Standing Committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), supported a proposal at this year's meeting in March to develop a national strategy to promote reading.

Ge said the regulation would win his support if it offered more specific measures to support publishers, instead of regulating how many books each resident had to read each year.

Ge said the regulation should emphasise the government's financial support for public libraries and reading rooms, or exempt charities that promote literacy from tax. "But if it states how many books I am required to read, then I oppose such regulation," Ge said.

Some cite a new law requiring children to tend to their elderly parents, to justify fears that government is wading deeper into regulating private behaviour.

Lin Hongchao, an administrative law expert from China University of Political Science and Law, said it would be wrong to set specific reading requirements. "This regulation should focus on how to guarantee the rights of readers, such as freedom to choose what to read", Lin said.