A visitor reads books at the newly opened book house at Kyrgyz National University. Photo: Zhu Gaolei/CSST

From Aug. 30 to Sept. 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Kyrgyzstan and attended the 2026 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Bishkek. On Sept. 1, at the “SCO Plus” Meeting, Xi delivered an important speech titled “Jointly Advocating an Equal and Orderly Multipolar World and Making Global Governance More Just and Equitable.” As the speech sparked discussion in local academic circles, attention also turned to a book house at Kyrgyz National University (KNU).

The book house, inaugurated on Jan. 28, 2026 and dedicated to the works of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, is the first such facility established overseas. Jointly established by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and KNU, it has since generated considerable interest in Kyrgyzstan and across Central Asia, as reflected in a steady stream of high-level seminars, lectures, and academic salons that have provided local intellectual circles with a tangible “spiritual anchor.” Today, the book house is opening a “window of ideas” onto China.

Governance insights within shelves

Books fill its shelves, while a steady stream of interested visitors passes through its doors. Since its inauguration, the book house has welcomed former presidents, diplomats, teachers, students, and members of the general public.

The book house offers readers insight into the ideas underpinning China’s governance, said Sheradil Baktygulov, director of the Institute of World Politics of Kyrgyzstan. Attentive readers, he noted, can each find subjects that speak to their own interests. Having studied President Xi Jinping’s works in depth over many years, Baktygulov continues to keep them close at hand as a regular reference in his day-to-day work.

Baktygulov’s connection with the Xi Jinping: The Governance of China series is a particularly personal one. The books sparked his interest in Chinese culture, an enthusiasm that eventually led him, in 2021, to write a book on good-neighborly friendship and cooperation between China and Kyrgyzstan.

Baktygulov still vividly recalls his first encounter with President Xi Jinping’s works more than a decade ago. In 2014, he was visiting his sister, then Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kyrgyz Republic to China, at her home in Beijing when he came across information about the Russian edition of the first volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. Intrigued, he asked his sister to order him a copy. The Russian translation had not yet been released, however, leaving him to wait until a copy became available. Some time later, during a trip back to Bishkek, his sister brought the book with her as a gift—Baktygulov’s first copy of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China.

More than a decade later, the impression left by that first reading remains vivid. “Every speech by President Xi deserves its own careful reading,” he said. Among the ideas that stayed with him most strongly was President Xi’s thinking on the “Chinese Dream,” which Baktygulov associated with the rise of the world’s second-largest economy.

Among the features that left the deepest impression were the many photographs documenting different stages of President Xi Jinping’s career, offering glimpses into his governance philosophy. “I had read books by leaders of various countries before, but I had never met this kind of approach—an innovative way of presenting the head of state to the wider public,” Baktygulov said.

Kubatbek Rakhimov, chief executive officer of Applicata—Centre for Strategic Solutions in Bishkek, has likewise spent recent years carefully studying a number of President Xi Jinping’s works. Reflecting on the governance philosophy that emerges from these writings, Rakhimov observed: “The author ran a poor coastal county, then a province, then a megacity, before running a country—the appeal comes less from a proclaimed doctrine and more from the granular honesty.”

“He turns his thinking on national destiny, public welfare, and world peace into honest writing. This practice-based governance wisdom breaks through the clichéd Western narratives about development,” Rakhimov continued. Among the works he singled out were the first two volumes of the selected works of Xi Jinping on diplomacy, which, in his view, “demonstrate China’s ongoing endeavors to drive forward significant innovations in key diplomatic theories and practices.”

“What stays with me is the recurring insistence on treating small and large states as formally equal partners in a shared undertaking—a principle that is easy to state and much harder to practice,” Rakhimov added.

Ismaeva Rakhima, deputy director of the Graduate School at KNU, offered a similar assessment: “Readers can find that President Xi is a wise leader. His writings are rich in philosophical insight, marked by a vivid style with historical depth. Many of his statements are concise, powerful, and layered with deep meanings. Quite a few passages are worth savoring. Readers can discern truly exemplary model of statesmanship.”

More than a reading room

Modest in scale, the book house nonetheless encompasses a broad intellectual world.

“The book house is not only a [reading] room or a collection of books—but what it actually produces became visible in cultural sense,” Rakhimov said. “I do agree the book house functions as a genuine observation platform, precisely because it lets people move past headline figures and read the reasoning. As for why the books travel so well: They read as a working record rather than a manifesto. Readers in developing countries recognize the voice of the author and the narrative style.”

Speaking with CSST, Sofya Apaeva, director of the Kyrgyz-Chinese Institute at KNU and head of the book house, said the venue has seen frequent use within Kyrgyz academic circles and hosted a wide range of activities. In her experience, it has evolved beyond a simple reading space into a multidimensional platform for reading, research seminars, academic exchange, and public dialogue. For faculty and students, the space supports focused reading and reference work while also serving as a regular gathering place for researchers.

Since January 2026, the book house has hosted a series of high-level seminars, lectures, and academic salons, drawing Kyrgyz politicians and social activists as well as experts and scholars from Chinese research institutions, universities, and media organizations.

More recently, Rakhima attended the Kyrgyzstan launch of the fifth volume of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China at the book house. The event reinforced her impression that interest in China’s experience with modernization and regional cooperation extends well beyond Kyrgyzstan to other countries across Central Asia.

Rakhimov, who also attended the launch, recalled several moments from the event particularly vividly. “It is a matter of practical value for Kyrgyzstan, not diplomatic courtesy. What stood out in the discussion there was its register: Former President [of Kyrgyzstan] Otunbayeva spoke about studying China’s governance mechanisms and long-term planning.”

A document repository for China studies

Through sustained face-to-face exchange, the spirit of friendship has reached a broader international audience. For many Kyrgyz university researchers working on China-related topics, the book house has become a key source of reference materials—and an indispensable “document repository” for China studies in the country.

Drawing on her own experience, Aisuluu Moldobaeva, director of the Master’s and Doctoral Department at KNU, described how the book house has changed her teaching. Before it opened, systematic first-hand materials for China-related courses were relatively difficult to obtain, and much of her teaching material came from online sources. The establishment of the book house, however, gave her more convenient access to documentary resources for classroom use. She now encourages students to work directly with the books and related reference materials, using original texts to deepen their understanding of China’s development practices and global initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Authoritative editions of President Xi Jinping’s works have provided local scholars with a more solid and reliable body of first-hand material. Bermet Ibraimova, a PhD candidate at KNU’s Kyrgyz-Chinese Institute, said she has benefited greatly from the Xi Jinping: The Governance of China series.

“In the past, we learned about China mostly through news, the internet, or classroom instruction. Today young people encounter an overwhelming stream of fragmented, not always reliable information about China on their mobile phones,” Ibraimova said. “The book house offers a structured space for study. Handling and reading these physical books allows us to calmly reflect on how China has achieved its present-day successes.”

Whenever time allows, Ibraimova returns to the book house. For her, it is more than a quiet place to read—it is a window onto China.

Moldobaeva is another frequent visitor, and the collection has also made a tangible contribution to her research. Its holdings provide a solid documentary foundation for studies of governance, educational cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges between China and Kyrgyzstan, while making the collection and verification of research materials considerably more efficient.

“Through systematic study of these works, my understanding of contemporary China has grown more comprehensive and in-depth. I pay particular attention to the theoretical logic, governance approaches, and cultural factors behind development outcomes,” Moldobaeva said. She added that China’s development experience offers valuable perspectives on modernization and has encouraged her to pay closer attention to local realities in her research on Central Asian development. Chinese practices in rural development, ecological conservation, and primary-level governance, for example, have prompted her to consider comparable challenges in Kyrgyzstan’s mountainous, pastoral, and rural regions, opening new avenues for comparative research.

Stories of people-to-people affinity and intellectual mutual learning

Many international observers have noted that President Xi Jinping’s works offer a broad picture of China’s domestic and foreign affairs. His speeches frequently draw on Chinese literary allusions, reflecting the depth and richness of fine traditional Chinese culture.

This cultural dimension particularly resonated with Baktygulov. “The opening of a dedicated book house points to a commitment to intellectual growth and literacy.”

Reflecting on how the collection has shaped her scholarly outlook, Moldobaeva said it has broadened her understanding of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. Her earlier work focused largely on major exchange programs organized by governments and universities, but over time she has come to place greater emphasis on the long-term effects of everyday interactions among international students, young people, and ordinary citizens. Bringing macro-level policy analysis together with micro-level social interaction, she believes, offers a fuller picture of how mutual understanding develops between the two peoples while opening broader perspectives on China-Kyrgyzstan people-to-people ties.

Ibraimova voiced an earnest hope that the book house will grow beyond its role as a place for reading and become a platform where young people from China and Kyrgyzstan can get to know one another, exchange ideas, and share experiences. Such sustained interaction, she believes, can help more Kyrgyz youth learn about China and more Chinese youth learn about Kyrgyzstan, gradually reducing unfamiliarity, deepening mutual understanding and trust, and carrying China-Kyrgyzstan friendship forward from one generation to the next.

Taken together, volumes at the book house bear witness to a growing story of people-to-people affinity and intellectual exchange between China and Kyrgyzstan. As Baktygulov observed: “Recent years have seen a notable deepening of civilizational exchanges between China and Kyrgyzstan, moving beyond traditional diplomacy into a vibrant, multi-layered cultural dialogue.”

For his part, Baktygulov hopes the collection will continue to expand in the years ahead. As new titles continue to flow into this modest reading room, their ink-scented pages may open still wider doors for Kyrgyz scholars seeking a deeper understanding of China.