Beijing newsstands to get a new image

A newsstand in downtown Beijing. [Photo/IC]

Beijing Municipal Commission of City Management has recently drafted a plan to upgrade the 1,000-plus newsstands in the capital, aiming to make them into innovative reading space and convenient service provider for the citizens.

The plan, which was co-drafted with the city's commerce commission, has been submitted to the city government for approval.

At present, Beijing has 1,186 newsstands in the city, among which 306 sells drinks and food.

According to Beijing Youth Daily's report earlier this month, the draft has cleared the multiple functions of the upgraded newsstands. In the future, the newsstands will be a carrier of culture like a "delicate furniture" of the city.

In the past a few years, due to shrinking demand for magazines and newspapers and rising digital reading among the public, many newsstands were torn down or removed from busy streets in Beijing.