Pengcheng in April, the wind is harmonious. Encounter the fragrance of books, read with the world. The annual "4.23 Reading Half an Hour" reading feast is coming as scheduled. This year, the "4.23 Half Hour of Reading" is based on the South China Library Alliance initiated and established by the Guangdong Public Library in 2023, further expanding and innovating to expand to South China to carry out the "Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Guiqiong" five places to read together, and cooperate with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Guiqiong District Public Library to adopt the "7+N" venue reading form, advocating citizens to open books and interpret "making reading a habit" with common reading behavior The concept of celebrating spring, leading reading, strengthening inter-city reading cultural exchanges, expanding the influence of libraries in South China, and promoting reading for all. Among them, "7" represents the seven main venues in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Hong Kong, Macao, Nanning and Haikou, and "N" represents libraries, book cities, book bars, bookstores, schools, enterprises, communities, hospitals, industrial parks, parks, restaurants and families in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as Guangxi and Hainan provinces. According to statistics, in nearly 40 cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, there are 689 library branches and more than 2,400 grassroots reading points, and more than 620,000 people have participated offline and online.
The event was organized by the Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government, and the Education and Youth Development Bureau of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region.
About 100 people, including directors of public libraries and university libraries in Shenzhen, cultural figures from all walks of life, media representatives, and representatives of citizen readers, participated in the reading. At the event site, the promotional film "My Wish" was jointly filmed by the readers of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Hong Kong, Macao, Nanning and Haikou, advocating readers to travel together in the book garden, stroll in the jungle of books, cultivate the feelings of the family and the country, and forge ahead in a new era together.
The co-reading at the main venue in Shenzhen is divided into three chapters: "Knowledge and Nature", "Exploration and Future" and "Reading and Classics". In the first article, "Knowledge and Nature", representatives of visually impaired and hearing-impaired readers from Shenzhen Yuanping Special Education School jointly recited "Children's Solar Terms", using natural children's voices and flexible sign language to lead the readers to find poetic imprints, appreciate the long cultural connotation and historical accumulation contained in the 24 solar terms, and feel the accumulation of long-term experience and wisdom of ancient Chinese working people. In the second chapter, "Exploring the Future", Ouyang Ziyi, Lv Jiayao, and Xu Weixuan, the award-winning representatives of the "Kunpeng" National Youth Science Fiction Literature Award, were invited to recite the award-winning work "Starting Point", civilization integrates science and technology, mythology shines into reality, and shows the "new force of Shenzhen" in Chinese science fiction literature. The third chapter, "Reading Classics", is presented in the form of reading dramas, in which the Shenzhen Zhiwei Reading Drama Club interprets the classic fragment of Mr. Jin Yong's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", revisits the dream of the rivers and lakes, narrates the national conditions of the family, carries forward the patriotic spirit of "the great man of chivalry, for the country and the people", and commemorates the centenary of Mr. Jin Yong's birth. The guests and citizen readers at the scene were immersed in it, and they also joined the ranks of co-reading, sharing the joy of reading and feeling the beauty of reading. This year's "Half an Hour of Reading" in Shenzhen organized more than 240 reading points, and nearly 20,000 citizens participated in offline reading.
The main venues in Guangzhou, Dongguan, Hong Kong, Macao, Nanning and Haikou also closely followed the theme of "Taste the Fragrance of Books and Enjoy the Joy of Reading", excavated local characteristics, and read the strong voices of the times.
The reading activity at the main venue in Guangzhou was held at the Zhongshan Library of Guangdong Province. The activity includes three chapters: "The Fragrance of Books Goes Far Away", "Poetry with Words" and "Singing the Future", and the young librarians of the library read generous poems such as "Xi Jinping's Congratulatory Letter to the First National Reading Conference" and "Ode to Rejuvenation", leading everyone to get a glimpse of the boundless world and profound time and space through the window of words. At the same time, it leads readers to read timeless poems in flash mobs, such as the gentle and elegant "Beautiful, Book of Songs" and the majestic "Asking the Sky". The Provincial Zhongshan Library, as the main venue of the "Half an Hour of Reading" in Guangzhou, recited classic poems, praised the motherland, and promoted the practice of reading for the whole people through the joint reading activities of tradition and modernity. Give full play to the role of the library as the main force in reading promotion, social education and cultural dissemination, so that the national reading atmosphere will become stronger, the cultural self-confidence will be firmer, and the spiritual strength of the new journey will be more majestic.
As one of the seven main venues of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Guiqiong "Half an Hour of Reading" event, Dongguan is immersed in the world of books together with Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macao, Nanning, Haikou and other cities. At the event site, more than 200 representatives from Dongguan Municipal Public Security Bureau, Dongguan Customs, Dongguan University for the Elderly and many other scholarly institutions, enterprises, campuses and communities gathered together to join hands with more than 370 reading points in the city, attracting a total of 150,000 people to participate in this ceremonial reading feast. With the beauty of reading, they interpret the charm and hope of the city. At the event, all the guests jointly launched the "Scholarly Dongguan World Reading +" reading initiative, calling on everyone: "Connect the world with reading, inject wisdom and strength into the manufacturing city, tell the unique story of Dongguan, warm the world with reading, connect the wisdom of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, extract the essence of civilization, embrace the world with reading, consolidate the foundation of culture, and work together to create a wonderful future." This initiative aims to promote global cultural exchanges and knowledge sharing through the bridge of reading, so that the image of "Scholarly Dongguan" blooms on the world stage.
In Hong Kong, "Half an Hour of Reading" is one of the major activities of the "Hong Kong Reading Week", and apart from the main venue of the Central Library, the LCSD has set up "Reading Spots" at many leisure venues and libraries to encourage the public to participate in the reading activities. The Education Bureau (EDB) organised the "Half-hour Reading Together Activity" for primary and secondary schools to deepen the reading atmosphere on campus. About 300 co-reading sites were organised in Hong Kong, with nearly 20,000 people participating. Starting from 2024, the Hong Kong SAR Government will designate April 23 as the "Hong Kong Reading Day" every year, and will respond with a number of large-scale activities to further promote reading among the Hong Kong public and implement the consensus of "Reading Together in Two Cities" between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
The main venue of Macao is located at the Macao Cultural Centre. On the same day, Macao's "4.23 Citywide Reading Day" series of activities was launched, adopting the form of "1+N" (1 main venue + N sub-venues), in addition to the main venue, the Macao Cultural Center, the city-wide recruitment of "reading points" was carried out simultaneously, which received more than 100 responses from more than 100 units, and about 22,000 people signed up to participate, creating a strong reading atmosphere. It is reported that the "Citywide Reading Day" also provides a number of activities such as book exchange, periodical rafting, book fairs, lectures, and check-in reading areas to promote the joy of reading in a rich and diverse way.
Guangxi Library, as one of the main venues for this co-reading, carried out activities in the form of offline readers reading in various reading areas and online live broadcast with the main co-reading venue. Qin Xiaoyan, Director of Guangxi Library, delivered a reading message, inviting librarians and readers to read together, and at the same time sharing a recent book and reading experience. Nearly 225 co-reading points in 14 prefecture-level cities in Guangxi Province have joined the co-reading in the form of online reading, reciting classics, offline sharing, etc., covering fire brigades, armed police squadrons, university libraries, communities, kindergartens, bookstores, coffee shops, etc., to taste the fragrance of books in Guangxi.
The reading event at the main venue in Haikou was held at the Hainan Provincial Library. The Hainan Provincial Library, which participated in the "Half an Hour of Reading" for the first time, carefully planned and organized a reading around the theme of "Tribute to Su Dongpo". The scene was read together in the Hainan Provincial Library Director He Fanyu and the librarian representative recited "Xingqiong Dan Room, Shoulder Sitting and Sleeping. In the dream, I got a sentence: Thousands of mountains move scales, and thousands of valleys are full of bells. Feeling and encountering the wind and rain, the play kicked off in the chapter of "A Few Sentences". Through recitation, explanation, speech, chanting and other forms, read Su Dongpo's poems and pay tribute to Su Dongpo. At the same time, the calligraphy donation of "Poetry and Preface to the Pavilion and the Preface" and "Dongpo Legacy Wind" was also carried out. A total of 21 public libraries in Hainan Province participated in the co-reading, and set up 23 special co-reading points such as the Everbright Haikou Chengxi Community Book House, the library-school cooperation Huahai School, the national reading point of Scholarly Island, and the Qilou Old Street Carving Time Station, focusing on classics such as "The Biography of Su Dongpo" and "Words in the World", with a total of about 2,600 readers participating.
"4.23 Half an Hour of Reading" is an annual reading event, initiated by the Shenzhen library community in 2016, with the theme of "Taste the Fragrance of Books and Enjoy the Joy of Reading", and encourage and advocate "making reading a habit" through multi-venue and ritualistic co-reading behavior. In 2018, the "4.23 Reading Half Hour" went to Guangdong Province, and in 2019, it became a "Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao" cultural exchange and cooperation project. So far, the event has been held for 9 consecutive years, and the number of co-reading points has jumped from 23 to more than 2,400, with a total of more than 7,400 co-reading points and more than 6 million citizen readers participating in the event online and offline.
(Courtesy of Hu Lei and Shenzhen Library)
(Author: Jiao Ziyu, Chief Reporter of Shenzhen Special Zone Daily)