Chinese bookstore operator Kunming Xinzhi Group has opened its first store in Sri Lanka.

The store in Colombo is the retailer’s fifth overseas after Phnom Penh, Vientiane, Kuala Lumpur and Mandalay.

“We have a medium-term plan that by 2015 we will have 10 bookstores in Southeast and South Asia. Our long-term plan is to have 20 around the world by 2020,” said Li Yong, founder and president of Kunming Xinzhi Group.

Yong said the company also plans to open in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal.

“Our target customers are Chinese people who work in those countries, people of Chinese descent who want to know more about the culture, local people who are learning Chinese, and scholars and officials who are interested in China,” said VP Yao Shusheng.