Still, the reading spaces have proved that staring at their phones around the clock is not the only way for urban residents to spend their spare time. According to the statistics from the city government, Hefei's reading spaces jointly attracted a total of 8.73 million visits in 2019.

Despite a hiatus lasting months and the current restrictions on the numbers of readers allowed in the venues at any one time due to pandemic prevention protocols, there still have been more than 2 million visits as of July.

Hefei now boasts the highest number of these urban reading spaces among China's provincial capitals, and more are on the way to "enable any urban resident in Hefei to reach a reading space within 15 minutes", according to Meng.

He says more work needs to be done. For example, only 10 spaces, including Apricot Flowers Academy, are currently capable of earning over 50,000 yuan a month, and around 50 are still operating in the red.

"Nowadays, the operation of bookstores is a global challenge, let alone the reading spaces which also assume the duties of libraries," Meng says. "In the future, the government may pay them to provide more services, thus further facilitating residents' requirements."

As more functions like hacker spaces, small theaters and package collection stations are planned and blended into the mix of services offered by the reading spaces, there are even more reasons for people to visit.