China’s first unmanned bookstore opens in Inner Mongolia

China’s Xinhua Bookstore has launched a new book selling model at a school in Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Xinhua Bookstore has built an unmanned bookstore in the Inner Mongolia Party School, the first of its kind in China. The bookstore stocks more than 10,000 books in 3,000 categories.

The bookstore, called Yiyou bookstore (literally meaning faithful friends in Chinese), invites writers and celebrites to give lectures on a regular basis.

"The opening of Yiyou bookstore will greatly improve people’s reading quality and reading level,” said Zhang Ying, deputy general mangaer of Inner Mongolia Xinhua Publishing Group.

People read books at a Xinhua bookstore run by Inner Mongolia Party School in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Xinmin.cn]

Two men operate an automatic book purchasing machine in the unmanned Xinhua bookstore in Inner Mongolia Party School. [Photo/Xinmin.cn]

A group of people read books in the Yiyou bookstore in Inner Mongolia Party School. [Photo/Xinmin.cn]