China Thursday announced an ambitious plan to establish 200,000 bookstores in its vast rural areas in five years.

"Each rural bookstore project will at least have 1,000 books, 30 magazines and periodicals and some audio visual products," Liu Binjie, vice director of the State Press and Publication Administration told a news briefing.

China Wednesday publicized a national program on cultural development during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

The program, issued jointly by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, listed cultural development in rural areas as a top priority.

Liu said the project, with a total investment of four billion yuan (about US$506 million), is aimed to promote education and popularize science and technology in rural areas.

He said the bookstores, with each to be built at an estimated 20,000 yuan, will be sponsored by the government and also open to public donation.

"Within 10 years, we hope each village will have its own bookstore," he said.

China's rural population is about 900 million.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2006)