Member Voice| Qu Zhong: Beijing Should Declare itself "World Capital of Literature" as soon as possible

Cao Xueqin, Lao She, Cao Yu... Numerous writers and their excellent works were born in Beijing. Speaking of the origins of literature and the ancient capital of Beijing, Members Qu Zhong from the press and publication circles expressed a lot of feelings. He believes that Beijing is a literary city and should be declared the "World Capital of Literature" as soon as possible.

"The Capital of World Literature is a naming of a city of literature, regularly assessed by UNESCO, whose criteria, in addition to literary traditions, focus primarily on the overall development of a city's literature." Qu Zhong said that so far, UNESCO has awarded dozens of cities such as Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, Dublin in Ireland, Krakow in Poland, and Heidelberg in Germany as "Literary Capitals". Among them, Nanjing is the only Chinese city to be rated as the "World Capital of Literature".

Qu Zhong believes that compared with the above-mentioned cities, Beijing is fully qualified as the "World Literary Capital". With a history of 3,000 years of founding and more than 800 years of capital building, Beijing is a famous cultural capital, a cultural center of the country, and a city with a literary tradition.

After the founding of New China, Beijing, which became the center of national literary creation and publishing, has many cultural resources, gathers many well-known writers, and is also the most important literary works publishing center in the country. "People's Literature", "October", "Beijing Literature", "Contemporary" and other well-known literary publications, the People's Literature Publishing House, Writers Publishing House, Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House, China Youth Publishing House and a number of literary publications, publishing enterprises, the Headquarters of the China Federation of Literature and Literature, the China Writers Association are all located in Beijing.

Rich literary activities, especially the increasingly influential "Beijing October Literature Month", have been successfully held for six sessions. Not only that, but the literary historical sites of various former residences constitute a colorful "literary map of Beijing".

So far, from all angles, it has laid a deep foundation for Beijing's bid to host the "World Capital of Literature".

Qu Zhong suggested that the municipal party committee and the municipal government should include the bid for the world literary capital as a folding project in the annual planning of the municipal level. Led by the relevant municipal management departments, we will learn from the successful experience of Nanjing's declaration, sort out and analyze Beijing's literary resources, and provide a basis and research path for declaring a world literary capital.

"Declaring the 'World Capital of Literature' is a means, the purpose of which is to further enhance Beijing's literary creation level and publishing capacity, and to harvest more literary masterpieces." Qu Zhong said.

Qu Zhong suggested that we re-study the policies for supporting creation and publishing, take the Beijing October Literature Month, the Beijing Reading Season and other activities as the starting point, create a trend of popularizing literature, and then form a strong literary atmosphere in the city, promote the transformation ability of literary achievements, and truly realize the construction of a national cultural center.

Qu Zhong looks forward to the fact that once Beijing successfully declares itself the "World Capital of Literature", it will show Beijing's literary status at home and abroad, and further expand its influence as a city in the world.

If Beijing can become the "world literary capital", it can provide a bigger stage and better conditions for literary creation, attract more outstanding literary talents, and better serve the national cultural center and the international exchange center.

At the same time, more and better literary creation products can be launched, which will be transformed into more art forms including film and television, drama, cultural creation, animation, etc., and finally realize the leap from the literary plateau to the cultural peak.

Becoming the "World Capital of Literature" can also make literature enter thousands of households, improve the cultural quality of Beijing citizens, give play to the social benefits of literary works, and contribute to the construction of socialist spiritual civilization.