Eric's Insight: Yunnan has grand reading event, what for?

The third National Conference on Reading is going on in central Yunnan’s Kunming city in honor of the World Book and Copyright Day that falls on April 23. Aiming to inspire public involvement in reading and foster a culture that values quality literature, the 3-day reading event is also conducive to bridging cultural gaps among different peoples and increasing mutual learning among civilizations.

जन आस्था

बैशाख १४, २०८१

A grand reading gala is staged during the third National Conference on Reading in Yunnan.

April 23 is a symbolic date in world literature. It is the date on which several prominent authors, including William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, all died. Since the 25th UNESCO General Conference in Paris in 1995, the World Book Day has been a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading.

Each year, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books -- a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. “Books, in all their forms, allow us to learn and to keep ourselves informed. They also entertain us and help us to understand the world, while offering a window into otherness,” said Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the 2024 World Book Day.

A book-donation is held in Kunming on April 24.

In China, reading activities on the World Book Day have persisted for decades to bridge cultural gaps, but it was in 2022 that the activities were upgraded into a national conference on reading. Over the years, the conference has been held in Beijing and Hangzhou, and now Kunming becomes the third city to host the nationwide event, a new manifestation of the Spring City’s importance in culture and education.

When it comes to the importance of reading or learning, the classic quotes are countless. “Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtues,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a congratulatory letter to the First National Conference on Reading. Similarly, the British philosopher Francis Bacon said in his essay On Studies: “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.”

Doctoral students from the Shakespeare Institute perform an excerpt of the English adaptation of Tang Xianzu's play The Peony Pavilion before the 2024 World Book Day. Photo/China Daily

While British William Shakespeare was writing about Romeo and Juliet, his Chinese peer Tang Xianzu was creating The Peony Pavilion, both plays lauding the beauty of true love among young people. Shakespeare and Tang are regarded as the greatest playwrights of their time, and both died in 1616. On the 400th anniversary in 2016, their birthplaces -- Stratford and Fuzhou -- became twins. On the occasion of the 2024 World Book Day, the literary heritages of Shakespeare and Tang were celebrated in Stratford for more cultural exchanges between China and the UK.

As for Yunnan, it is culturally-celebrated among Chinese provinces, and Yunnan’s Yuanmou Man is where the Chinese history begins. In modern times, Yunnan once stood out as a Chinese pioneer in culture, education and democratic ideas. Amid the warring 1930s and 1940s, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University moved to Yunnan to avoid Japanese occupation and found the National Southwest Associated University (Lianda) -- an educational miracle in modern China.

An old photo of the National Southwest Associated University (Lianda) gate

In less than one decade, the Yunnan-based university produced two Nobel Prize winners, four winners of China’s top science and technology award, and eight winners of "Two Bombs and One Star Medal for Meritorious Service", as well as 171 academicians at Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering. During the third National Conference on Reading, the excellent Lianda tradition in reading and learning was highlighted.

Almost in the same decades, more quality literature on Yunnan was created by Western writers, allowing the province to be better known to the world. In the 1920s and 1930s, American botanist Joseph Rock wrote a series of dispatches in National Geographic Magazine from west Yunnan’s Lijiang. Inspired by Joseph’s articles, British writer James Hilton rolled out the 1933 novel Lost Horizon, making the name Shangri-La (now official name of a Yunnan city near Lijiang) synonymous with fantasies of a utopia. In 1955, Russian adventurer Peter Goullart published The Forgotten Kingdom, a memoir of his pleasant stay in Lijiang.

A copy of The Forgotten Kingdom

Amid the Chinese reform and opening-up drive, Yunnan have actively carried out cross-cultural communications for more mutual learning and understanding among civilizations. By joining hands with their peers in South Asia, Southeast Asia and beyond, Yunnan Daily Press Group and Yunnan International Communication Center for South and Southeast Asia (YICC) have published the China-Yunnan news pages in the U.S., India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and more. They also publish the four monthly journals in the Mekong countries of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, allowing native speakers to read more about Yunnan and China. Now the Champa magazine is made available on the passenger trains of China-Laos Railway.

While Yunnan’s Kunming is hosting the 3rd National Conference on Reading in honor of the World Book Day, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam just celebrated a National Book and Reading Cultural Day from April 21 to 22. In Laos and Thailand, similar events were held earlier. According to local media reports, the 22nd Bangkok International Book Fair was held from March 28 to April 8 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, and the 5th Lao Book Festival 2024 was held in late March at the National University of Laos. With frequent reading events and book fairs going on, the Lancang-Mekong river basin is becoming a book-loving region for thriving cultural exchanges and mutual learning.