The 11th Jiangsu Farmers' Reading Festival opened in Liubao Town in Baoying County of Yangzhou City on April 21. The event also celebrated the city’s own reading festival named after Zhu Ziqing, a renowned Chinese poet and essayist, and formed part of the province-wide 100,000 workshops in farm libraries.

With a theme of empowering rural revitalization, the festival will run until farmers' harvest festival on the Autumnal Equinox each year, which is one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunisolar calendar and usually falls between September 22 and 24 during the country's agricultural harvest season.

At the opening ceremony, organizers also presented certificates in recognition of the contribution of role models in promoting the reading campaign. Books and smart reading devices were also donated to farm libraries, public cultural service facilities that provide reading and audio-visual materials to farmers.

Farm libraries are promoted as a way to improve rural culture and safeguard the basic cultural rights and interests of farmers. During the opening ceremony, the program in Baoying County was honored for its outstanding performance. Meanwhile, a list of 100 recommended books was also released at the event.

Contact us at english@jschina.com.cn