There is another anecdote about Xi's passion for reading foreign literature.

When Xi worked and lived in Liangjiahe village in northern Shaanxi province from late 1960s to 1970s, he once walked 15 kilometers to borrow a copy of Faust. And later, the owner of the book walked 15 km to take back the book.

During a visit to Washington in 2015, Xi also shared his enthusiasm for American literature.

Xi said, "As a young man, I read The Federalist Papers and Thomas Paine's Common Sense. I also like the stories and thoughts of Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. I read Thoreau, Whitman, Mark Twain, and Jack London. In The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway, the depiction of storms, huge waves and a small boat, an old man and a shark left deep impressions on me."