GZU kicked off its Eighth Reading Festival in 2019 together with a series of activities in an effort to get students to "read the classics and share the same dreams with the country". The event, accompanied by solemn songs, “My Country and I” and “the National Anthem of the People's Republic of China" was held at Yuehu Lake on West Campus. Linghu Caitao, Deputy Secretary of GZU Party Committee, attended the event. Joining the activity were more than 2,000 teachers and students from various colleges, including student associations and the middle school attached to GZU.

Li Bo, the Party’s General Secretary of the Library, gave a talk about the event. She noted that everyone involved in the Reading Festival, themed “Being Inspired by Books and Seeking a Promising Future”, has the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of words and the pleasure of reading.

Linghu Caitao delivered a speech. She stressed that the Reading Festival aims to promote reading and calls for students to read more and better books. Students are supposed to know how to read as well. She added that the Festival serves as a platform for students to showcase their cultural awareness and reading interest. She called on everyone to develop reading habits in their daily life, making it a conscious behavior. Additionally, she recommended increased reading of four genres: 1) Chinese classics in order to improve cultural awareness; 2) Biographies of well-known people to learn from role models; 3) Natural science texts in a bid to discover the source of wisdom, and 4) Philosophical works to open the windows to our soul.  

Zhang Zhengping, Director of the Library, announced the launch of the classics reading activity for the 8th Reading Festival of GZU.

This large-scale activity, "Reading the Classics and Sharing the Dream with the Country", ended satisfactorily. With great passion, hundreds of teachers and students read aloud a poem, which says "the heavens and the earth are green and vast; the Chinese youth stand strong and independent". Following the reading, teachers and students signed their names on the signature wall and took group photographs.

This Reading Festival is hosted by the library and co-hosted by the Party Committee's Publicity Department, Student Affairs Department, Postgraduate Affairs Department, Youth League Committee, Security Department and Music College. A number of activities will be organized, such as "My library and I" short video competition, "Reading at GZU", "Let’s go, Readers!", looking-for-books game, and movie screenings of patriotic classic films.

Text: Fan Jiajia (GZU News Center), Ruan Zhenzhen (Intern)

Photography: Li Baifeng (GZU News Center)

Chief Editor: Yin Zixi

Senior Editor: Tang Juan

Translator: Li Xiaorong

Proofreading: Zoe Novak, Zhou Jie