Today (April 23) is the 30th World Book Day. In recent days, a series of reading activities have been held across the country. With the sound of books, the details of "National Reading" form a dazzling chapter of the bookish China, and spreads a poetic scroll of the continuation of cultural heritage and the construction of a cultural power.

Children are immersed in the "a ocean of knowledge" of the library

Since 2014, "National Reading" has been written into the work report of our government for 12 consecutive years. In recent years, we can see that the construction of a bookish China is gradually affecting the living space and spiritual world of more people.

Look at the hardware. From building urban study rooms, farmhouse books, and community bookstores to building a "15-minute reading circle", a 24-hour self-service library, and a digital reading platform... Behind the more convenient reading is the improvement of infrastructure and the continuous increase in investment by governments at all levels. Data shows that as of the end of 2024, there were 3,248 public libraries nationwide, with a total circulation of 1341.97 million people. Last year, my country published 24.9 billion newspapers of various types, 1.8 billion copies of various journals, 11.8 billion books (sheets), and 8.39 books per capita (sheets).

See the service. According to the plan, this year my country will basically form a national reading promotion service system covering urban and rural areas, which is an important measure for my country to deepen the construction of a cultural power. It provides a platform for parent-child reading, campus reading festivals and other activities, and also provides conditions for exploring new cross-border models such as "reading + intangible cultural heritage" and "reading + science and technology innovation", and provides a place to further strengthen the social trend of "loving reading, reading good books, and good reading".

National launch ceremony site of the Chinese Classic Recitation Conference (Season 3)

Watch the event. On the 22nd, the national launch ceremony of the Chinese Classics Recitation Conference (Season 3) was held in Gaobeidian City, Hebei Province. As a national cultural IP, the "Chinese Classics Recitation Conference" integrates public welfare, folk participation, and professional authority, aiming to further integrate reading into people's daily lives and nourish people's spiritual world. From season one to season three, the popularity of participating in the Chinese Classic Recitation Conference has continued to rise, which shows that the atmosphere of national reading and classic recitation has created a strong magnetic field.

The hardware is diverse, the content is colorful, the services are multi-layered, and the activities are diverse, making meaningful reading more interesting together.

Why do people need to read? Why should a family, a city, or a country have the fragrance of books? The answer is in the process of reading, in the function of reading, and in the continuation of the context.

Reading can lead to enlightenment. Reading can carry us in the past where we cannot measure our steps; books can arrange for us to meet our lives that we cannot experience. There may not be a golden house in the book, but it can definitely create a better self. The more you read the book, the broader your mind will be, the broader your vision will be, and the deeper your cognition will be.

Read to make friends. Today, at Beijing West Railway Station, a national reading event with the theme of "Slow down for a quarter of an hour" is being held. Get a good book, make a friend, and people share their reading experiences, gain life insights, and have a happy life.

Reading can be interesting. As the participants of the previous Chinese Classics Recitation Conference said: Through recitation, we can know that the happiest thing in the poem is "the mountains are heavy and the water is full of no way, and the willows are dark and the flowers are bright and there is another village"; the fastest boat is "the monkeys on both sides cannot stop crying, and the light boat has passed thousands of mountains"; the most difficult person to find is "only in this mountain, the clouds are deep and the place is not known"...

The "strength" of a cultural power must ultimately be reflected in the people's ideological realm, spiritual state, and cultural cultivation. From interest to love, the increasingly strong reading atmosphere is itself a kind of poetry. This poetry moistens our hearts, consolidates the foundation for building a cultural power, and continues the mass inheritance of the Chinese cultural context. (China Radio International commentator Wen Feng)