On the morning of September 23rd, the first national reading campaign Sanmenxia branch with the theme of “Reading Fostering Every Household, Forging Ahead in the New Era” kicked off in the Hall of Virtue in the Hangu Pass Historical and Cultural Tourism Zone. Municipal Party secretary, Liu Nanchang delivered a speech via video.

Wang Songzhao, a member of the standing committee of the municipal Party committee and minister of the United Front Work Department, attended the opening ceremony.

Liu Nanchang said in the speech that “one who is filled with knowledge always behaves with elegance”. “Reading is an important avenue for humans to acquire knowledge, expand wisdom and cultivate virtues. It enlightens us and helps us aim high and stand upright,” said General Secretary Xi Jinping, which has pointed out the way forward and provided the fundamentals for us to further promote national reading. The area of Xiaohan has a long history and rich culture. Yangshao culture lit up the first ray of the dawn of Chinese civilization; Laozi wrote Tao Te Ching in Hangu Pass and Yangzhen established his school in Hongnong; Liu Shaoqi wrote “On the Cultivation of Communist Party Members” in Mianchi, which is an immortal chapter of the Communist Party’s tempering of the Party spirit. Classical succession and eagerness to learn have been deeply integrated into the blood genes of Sanmenxia people, and have become an inexhaustible driving force for us to uphold fundamental principles, break new ground and grow continuously.

Liu Nanchang said that knowledge changes destiny, and innovation wins the future. At present, Sanmenxia is in the initial sprint stage of building a national innovative city, and the importance of reading wisely and studying diligently, and building a knowledge-based society is even more prominent. Hope that Party members and cadres will take the lead in reading, learning, and cultivating aspirations and talents; young people will consciously cultivate reading habits, read happily and grow up healthily; the whole society will participate in reading and form a strong atmosphere of reading. The municipal Party committee and the municipal government will make every effort to provide a better reading environment for everyone and create a scholarly atmosphere of studying diligently, discriminating clearly, reflecting carefully and practising earnestly, to provide strong spiritual support to ensure high-quality construction of modern Sanmenxia and high-level modernization of Sanmenxia.

The opening ceremony took “reading, starting from the Tao Te Ching” as the main line, adopted excellent Chinese classics as the basic standard and recitation as the main expression method. Focusing on Tao Te Ching, the cultural card of Sanmenxia, experts from all over the country were invited to give in-depth talks and representatives of all ages and occupations were invited to talk freely about their reading experience, which fully shows the reading life and reading style of the masses, depicts the achievements and highlights of the construction of “Literary Sanmenxia” and outlines the heavy historical and cultural image of “Literary Sanmenxia”.

All units in Sanmenxia will carry out national reading activities simultaneously relying on public libraries, new-era civilization practice centers, cultural centers, cultural stations, Xinhua Bookstores, rural bookstores, and urban study rooms, etc. It will focus on “five ones”, namely one main venue, one book fair, one reading month of the Yellow River culture, a series of classic reading activities, and a series of strong propaganda. The national reading campaign will last for one month. Sanmenxia is expected to carry out nine classic reading activities, 29 social publicity activities, 107 the Yellow River culture themed reading activities, and 1,343 Sanmenxia book fairs, leading a hit where everyone loves reading, has good books to read and knows how to gain from reading, to foster a strong atmosphere for the success of the 20th CPC National Congress.