Read the world to make yourself a better person

Read the world to make yourself a better person

Visited Wang Jie, professor of the Philosophy Department of the Central Party School and president of the Chinese Practical Studies Association

Kunming Oriental Bookstore, first founded in 1926, during the Southwest United University period, Wen Yiduo, Wang Zengqi, Li Gongpu, Lin Huiyin and other frequent visits. The picture shows the Oriental Bookstore that was rebuilt and re-operated at the original site. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Xinbo

April 23 is World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day.

"I hope that people living in the diaspora, whether you are old or young, whether you are poor or rich, whether you are sick or healthy, can enjoy the pleasure of reading, and can respect and thank the masters of literary, cultural and scientific thought who have made great contributions to human civilization, and can protect intellectual property rights." The keynote declaration of World Book Day once again makes us understand: reading, the world is in front of us.

There is poetry and bookishness in the belly

Reporter: Tasting the fragrance of books can cultivate the aura of Haoran; enlightening the rhyme of books can cultivate the virtue of politics. We have been a people who love books and love to read since ancient times, which is a well-deserved national cultural gene, combined with years of study and practical experience, what kind of observation and experience do you have on this?

Wang Jie: Now the valley rain festival has just passed, and the rain is born in a hundred valleys, which is a very warm and touching picture. This picture cannot help but recall the scene where Confucius led a group of disciples to read and study: "Twilight spring, spring clothes are complete, five or six crowns, six or seven boys, bathing in Yi, wind like dancing, singing and returning." ”

This narrative record in the Analects is very vivid and lively, and with only a few words, it outlines the scene of ancient teachers and students interacting and learning from each other.

Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has a fine tradition of paying attention to reading, such as "cultivating and reading for a long time, poetry and books for a long time", "books are medicine, good reading can cure foolishness", "there are poems and books in the belly", and other ancient precepts and famous sayings are still lingering in the minds of many Chinese, and even regarded by many families as tutors and family training, which embodies the sincere teachings and ardent expectations of the elders for future generations.

"Books are the ladder of human progress." In today's scientific and technological progress and the prosperity of civilization, reading is not only related to a person's cultivation and determines a person's ultimate height, but also affects the quality and competitiveness of a country's people, and it can also be said that reading is the key force for a nation's rejuvenation and sustainable development.

Compared with the past, in our country, reading is highly valued and vigorously promoted. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of reading on many occasions, pointing out that it is necessary to "regard learning as a pursuit, a hobby, a healthy way of life, and be good at learning and learning", and advocate the whole society to strengthen reading and learning.

"Reading for all" has been written into the government work report for nine consecutive times, and "carrying out reading activities for the whole people" has also been included in the construction of a socialist cultural power. All sectors of society have also carried out various reading activities, focusing on the "study of party history", guiding the study of the "four histories", inheriting the excellent traditional Chinese culture, inheriting the revolutionary culture, paying attention to young people, the elderly, etc. Various activities are vivid and colorful, and various themes emerge in an endless stream.

For example, we have noticed that since the academic carnival night on April 18, the Commercial Press has prepared more than 20 online activities to read with the majority of readers.

Founded in 1897, the Commercial Press is the oldest publishing institution in China's publishing industry, and the establishment of the Commercial Press marks the beginning of China's modern publishing industry. The Commercial Press has created many "firsts", such as the production and manufacture of China's first Chinese character typewriter, the publication of China's first modern dictionary , "Ciyuan", China's first standardized dictionary - "Modern Chinese Dictionary", and the Xinhua Dictionary has become the world's largest sales of dictionaries.

I am concerned that among the "Top Ten Good Books of the Commercial Press" released on the evening of April 19, 2022, there is a book called "Reshaping the Countryside: A Souvenir of the Return of New Farmers under the Rural Revitalization Strategy". The book focuses on 24 new farmers and presents their real experiences of returning to their hometowns to start a business and reshape their farmland. Just see a few sentences that introduce the book — "To reinvent the countryside is to reinvent time." To be close to the land is to be close to ourselves", which makes people feel a touch in their hearts.

This is the progress of the times, the epitome of the book.

With the development of science and technology, we have more and more ways to read books, such as a variety of e-readers, mobile phone reading Apps, and some listening software, which are also friendly to readers who are inconvenient for their eyes.

Today, we can almost read anytime and anywhere, which provides conditions for reading for the whole people and is the benefit brought about by the progress of the times.

World Book Day is only one day, but we read every day

Reporter: At present, many media platforms have launched many reading activities, such as the "Bohong Shuxiang Award" initiated by the Zhonghua Bookstore and the Tongxiang Municipal Government, which has been held for five consecutive years. You have served as a guest of thought interpretation of "Ping"Yu "Closer", what kind of important role do you think reading promotion activities, including "Ping"Yu "Closer People", play in becoming a weathered person and condensing the soul?

Wang Jie: "Bohong Scholars Award" is a social welfare cultural activity jointly initiated by Zhonghua Bookstore and Tongxiang Municipal People's Government, and this year is the fifth session. As a scholar, I am very pleased to see such cultural activities. For example, the "Xiang Grassland" Student Volunteer Service Center, which won this year's organization nomination award, this student volunteer service center from Zibo City, Shandong Province, has been innovating in curriculum and activity forms since its establishment in 2018, focusing on the combination of "teaching" and "reading", and regularly promoting cultural reading for pastoral students. Through a series of cultural courses such as Chinese Reading Appreciation, Traditional Chinese Mythology and Stories, Recitation and Expression, and Traditional Culture Film Appreciation, they provide a variety of reading forms such as Chinese culture reading books and "book drifting", so that students can embrace traditional culture in a more pleasing way.

World Book Day, there is only one day, but we read on every day, and it is necessary for the participation and interaction of the whole society, which is the so-called "uninterrupted learning, such as flowing water, day after day." Activities like the Zhonghua Bookstore's "Bohong Shuxiang Award" to reward reading are like the spring rains on a March day, which can give birth to all things.

In general, these reading activities mainly have two functions, one is to guide, through these activities to make people aware of the importance of reading, to attract young people over, so that they have a new recognition of reading. Whether reading is useful or not, the ancients once debated. As early as the pre-Qin era, Confucius's disciple Zilu once proposed, "There are people and people, there are social principles, why should we study, and then learn?" Thinking that reading is a delay, this idea of quick success was severely criticized by Confucius.

More than two thousand years have passed, the significance of reading has increased, these popular reading promotion activities in the era when people are more pursuit of fast-paced, is to enable people to immerse themselves in the body and mind, read well, so as to deeper understand the charm of reading, understand the power of reading, enhance the interest in reading.

The other is guidance, because reading books must pay attention to both methods and choices, Zhuangzi said, "My life also has an end, and knowledge has no end." With an end, there is no end, and it is gone. "Most people only know the previous sentence and do not know the latter sentence, the world's books are full of sweat, exhaustive life can not read, so we must also be able to read, read good books, these activities can give us more valuable good books, such as "Ping" language "near people" and other programs can more effectively guide our lives. You can also provide some reading suggestions and method guidance, which can improve the quality of our reading.

Reading is a lifelong thing to do, the advocacy of reading for the whole people is also a long-term task, to create a strong reading atmosphere in the whole society, to form a love of reading fashion, so that the reading of the whole people in the land of China flourishing, can better inherit the Chinese context, further guide people to stress morality, respect morality, abide by morality, pursue noble moral ideals, consolidate the ideological and moral foundation of socialism with Chinese characteristics, condense the soul, strengthen the foundation of the foundation.

Water the fertile soil of life with reading

Reporter: The vast number of readers, including party members and cadres, truly regard reading as a spiritual pursuit and a realm requirement, so that all useful knowledge and all honest culture can be put into the mind, precipitated in our blood, and integrated into our behavior. What kind of positive impact does good reading habits and study pursuit have on the establishment, life of party members and cadres, and the government?

Wang Jie: General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that if our cadres want to be progressive, our party is to be progressive, our country is to be progressive, and our nation is to be progressive, we must vigorously promote the trend of learning, persist in studying, studying, and studying again, and persist in practice, practice, and practice.

Non-learning cannot be widely talented, and non-ambition cannot be learned. Since ancient times, "those who are good will learn." Zi Xia, a student of Confucius, said, "Shi and You are good at learning." This means that in order to be a good and competent official, you must continue to study and improve your ability to govern. The first part of the whole book of Xunzi is "Persuasion". Xun Zi said that scholars must not be scholars, but must be learned. Study is not to become an official, but to be a qualified and competent official, you must study.

China's excellent traditional culture is the root and soul of the Chinese nation, and is an important spiritual force for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and inspiring and rallying the people of all ethnic groups throughout the country. Excellent traditional culture has become an important ideological resource for the CPC to govern the country and secure the country. Traditional culture contains rich ideological wisdom, which is worth learning from party members and cadres. To improve the self-quality of party members and cadres, it is necessary to attach importance to the study of traditional Chinese culture. Attaching importance to the study of China's excellent traditional culture is also an important fine tradition of the Communist Party of China.

Since 2015, when I and a group of colleagues advocated the first stop of the "Leading Cadres Study Chinese Studies National Tour" activity into Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, so far I have successfully entered 18 provinces and cities across the country, teaching leading cadres at all levels in various places on topics such as "Ancient Official Morality and Cadre Cultivation", "Wisdom of Traditional Chinese Studies and the Way of Government", "Traditional Culture and Self-Cultivation", and achieved good social repercussions. Moreover, many people take the initiative to discuss problems and exchange experiences with us after class, teaching is mutually beneficial, and their feelings and ideas are important references for our researchers. Because only by knowing the interests and priorities of the majority of party members and cadres can our dissemination and promotion be more targeted.

We say that to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional Chinese culture, this is not an empty phrase, but we need to practice it, in other words, the truth in the classics needs to be modernly expressed, and it needs to be better disseminated and promoted in combination with today's practice, and only when it is implemented can it take root.

Party-member leading cadres are the backbone of the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and the promoters and leaders of all constructions. The Book of Learning says, "If a gentleman wants to turn the people into a custom, he must learn!" "Gentlemen here refer to those who are in power, and if party members and cadres want to play a practical leading role and turn the people into a religion, they must study through reading.

A poet of the Qing Dynasty, Xiao Shuzhi, wrote a poem "Reading Books and Seeing Works", which contained the following sentences: "People's hearts are like good seedlings, and they are nourished and grown." The seedlings are irrigated with spring water, and the heart is nourished by reason. These few poems are easy to understand and the image is profound. Reading and learning is of great benefit to a person's improvement of cultivation and temperament, broadening his horizons and patterns, and this truth is self-evident.

Tuis said that we should always closely link reading and study with the strengthening of political and moral cultivation, gather sand into towers, gather armpits into qiu, accumulate steps to thousands of miles, and flow into rivers and seas.

"University" said that "one word is a matter, one person determines the country", and the continuous reading and study of party members and cadres is not only cultivation and responsibility, but also leadership - leading more people to study, infiltrating the entire society with culture, and letting the idea of making great contributions to human civilization water the fertile soil of our lives. (Reporter Liu Tonghua)

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