Zhu Yongxin: Big hands hold small hands and save the earth together

Editor's note: On the occasion of the 53rd World Earth Day and the 27th World Book Day, the Beijing Youth Love Education Foundation held a special commemorative event at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, "Nuwa Patching Up the Heavens - Mothers Take Their Children to Read to Save the Earth". Liu Jiaqi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Ji Di Majia, member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and director of the Poetry Committee of the Chinese Writers Association; Zhu Yongxin, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy; and Li Jianchen, a cultural scholar, made key speeches one after another; nearly 30 representatives of mothers and fathers from all walks of life in Beijing attended the forum. Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily Health Client, China Daily, China Net and other news media have reported that advocating that "mothers take their children to read to save the earth" has become a hot topic. Some guest speeches (compiled according to the recordings) are published for the benefit of readers.

Zhu Yongxin, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democrac

It is a very important issue for mothers to take their children to read to save the earth, and it cleverly connects the two time nodes of Earth Day and Reading Day with this theme.

From the perspective of reading, it is very important for mothers to bring their children. I once read an influential book, The Handbook of Reading Aloud. The title page of the book has a short poem. It is said to be a favorite poem of American families and American mothers. It uses a child's tone to express "you have countless treasures, but I have a mother who reads for me". A mother who reads is the greatest asset in a child's life. The child's reading ability, reading interest, and reading habits are actually related to the mother to a large extent. The lullaby that the mother gives to the child is often to use nursery rhymes and nursery rhymes to bring the child to a world of books, a world of language, and a world of words, so the first book that the mother reads to the child is often very critical and very important. In the past, we were telling stories, but now it is often more popular to be fairy tale books. Children's sense of color, to space, to the rhythm of language, this feeling is very strong. I often talk about the cultivation of reading ability, and mothers play a very key role, so I think we need to build a bookish society, and mothers play a very key role.

Regarding reading, I have said five sentences to illustrate the meaning and value of reading.

First, the history of a person's spiritual development is his reading history. The growth of a person's body has a lot to do with a person's food. Similarly, a person's spiritual growth has a lot to do with his spiritual food. Read what you will become. Initially, the mother moisturized the child with her milk, so that the child received the most reasonable and abundant nutrition in the world. In fact, reading is also like this, the mother gives the best poetry and the best story to the child, brings the child to this spiritual world, and provides the first spiritual milk for his growth.

Second, the spiritual realm of a nation depends on the level of reading of the nation. Where does the power of a country and a nation come from? Its cohesion, creativity and reading have a lot to do with it. Why do our successive party leaders attach so much importance to reading? Reading is not just an individual act, its impact on the country is also very large. This is also a very important consideration that I have been proposing for so many years to establish a national reading festival at the two sessions of the National People's Congress. I think it is not just an individual act, but also a very important means of promoting social equity. We once translated the book "Lack of Knowledge" by an American scholar, and she said that how inequities in American society are caused, but in fact, a very important reason is that in early childhood, they get different reading resources. Middle-class families have an abundance of books at home, and mothers read and tell stories to their children, including mothers sharing them with their children. But those poor families, those disadvantaged families do not have reading resources, their parents are busy with their livelihood, they rarely realize the importance of reading, and they rarely give their children to read, so when children come to the world, their gaps naturally arise, and this gap is sometimes difficult to fill. So she proposed the new civil rights movement, proposing to give children the best reading resources in their early years, especially for children in rural areas and poor families. Today, mothers take their children to read, and we must promote the children of poor families so that their mothers can take their children to study.

A school without reading can never have a real education. Education and reading are very closely related. To a certain extent, reading is education, and education is reading. To a certain extent, a person develops good ability and reading habits, and he has the ability to learn and grow on his own. So education is to teach this ability to children, it is very important for human growth.

Fourth, a city full of books can become a beautiful spiritual home.

Fifth, reading and writing together and living together, in order to have a common language, a common code, a common value, and a common vision. This common is that the mother takes the child to read, that is, the common reading. We often see that there is no common language between children in many families and mothers, between adults and children, and even between adults and adults. Words are not speculative for more than half a sentence. A very important reason for strangers living under the same roof is that they do not have common reading and common life. Only by reading the same book do they have a common password. Therefore, it is indeed very critical, very important, and very basic for mothers to take their children to read, and I think we must advocate that mothers take their children to read.

I recently compiled a book, The Study of Maternal Love: Famous Artists Remember Mothers, which selects educational stories from an educational perspective to see how mothers of cultural celebrities brought their children to grow up. One of the most important learnings of maternal love is to take children to school. I think that's the point of today's theme.

The question about the earth is indeed such. The current crisis of the earth is indeed not optimistic, global warming, sea level rise, ozone layer destruction, acid rain, forest destruction, river pollution, land desertification, especially in the past 100 years, human beings are accelerating the destruction and plunder of the earth. In our generation, when we were children, we could still swim in the rivers, but now it is difficult. What you just talked about is to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, if this issue is not taken seriously, the earth will face many crises. The earth is the common home of mankind, so UNESCO published a report in November last year clearly advocating the need to move from humanism to ecology. What was advocated in the past was humanism, people-centered, and the earth, everything, was at the service of people. In the past, people-centered society was taken for granted, and humanism was promoted as a noble value. Now everyone realizes that such a people-centered society will cause damage to the earth's ecology. People are equal to other lives, and we must create a harmonious ecology in order to make this earth better survive. Humanity cannot be served at the expense of other species and lives on earth. After this concept is built, many of our behaviors will undergo profound changes. Our education and educational concepts must change, and our educational concepts must change. Of course this change must start with the family. Not only does a mother have to take her child to school, she also takes her child to do something really to save the planet. Saving the planet is not just about the leaders, it's about the adults, I think it's about every child, every family. Recently, the Central Organization of the China Association for the Advancement of Democracy has conducted research on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and decided to start from the change of lifestyle and production mode. How do we change the way we live, how can each of us become a frugal person, and how can we build a frugal society? We just express ourselves every day, pack so much, and produce so much garbage, which is unimaginable in human history. Our household electricity consumption and various resource consumption are worth reflecting on. In general, it is very meaningful for a mother to take her children to school, and for a mother to take her children to really do a little bit of work to save the earth.

Green love heart language

Love is the soul of education,

There is no education without love.