The Xinhua Bookstore was founded on April 24, 1937, in the
Qingliang Mountains in Yan'an. Communist revolutionaries opened the
first store at their Shaanxi Province base.
Late Chinese leader Mao Zedong inscribed the four Chinese
characters standing for "Xinhua Bookstore" in 1939. After 1949, the
Xinhua Bookstore moved to Beijing and later expanded to other parts
of the country.
It is the only bookstore chain that has thousands of outlets
across the nation but has seen its influence wane in recent years
as private bookstores and other chains mushroom in the market
economy.
Over the past 70 years, Xinhua bookstores have been instrumental
in promoting governmental policies, cultural, scientific and
technological information.
To date, the Xinhua Bookstore system has grown into a mammoth
distributing and retailing conglomerate, owning 3,100 subsidiary
companies and 14,000 chain stores, and employing a workforce of
150,000.
(China Daily June 5, 2007)