(Photo/Yu Ping & Chen Yan)
Xinhua Daily organized a book workshop at the 13th Jiangsu Book Fair, the province's largest gathering for authors, publishers and vendors.
Hosted by Ye Fan from Nanjing Radio and Television, the workshop invited book club management across the province to share their passion for reading as well as their stories and experiences in running the clubs.
In 2018, Sun Yueyue, producer and host of Suzhou Radio and Television, started the reading program "Yueyue Study". Over the years, she has cooperated with experts to lead readers on visits to attractions such as classic gardens, old lanes, ancient towns and villages, in order to explore the city's rich history and cultural heritage. The programs have also been shared through livestreaming, short videos, and posts to reach a larger audience.
To enrich the cultural life in the countryside, Le Huaze established the Huaze Book Club in Shangzhuang Town, Yancheng City in 1993 at his own expense. In its 30 years of development, the book club has been dedicated to serving farmers' needs for skills and knowledge, and has already acquired numerous books on agricultural science and technology.
In 2018, the Huaze Book Club introduced the "9 O'clock Classroom" for children, a new initiative that combines games, calligraphy and painting practices, handicrafts, and sport.
In Yixing, Zhou Lenong founded a book club with a "three-no" principle - no membership fee, no government subsidy, or no commercial sponsorship. In the ten years since its establishment, the book club has benefited more than 50 million online readers. To promote the reading of domestic and foreign literature, the club has featured interviews with famous authors, such as Zhou Guoping, Yu Hua, Bi Feiyu, Ye Zhaoyan, Zhou Xiaofeng, and Nobel Prize for Literature winners such as Jean-Marie Gustave le Clézio and Svetlana Alexievich.
Ji Feng, founder of Xiangshan Book House in Jiangyin City, has established a total of 22 cultural and reading spaces. The project started with a book corner in his company, and later expanded to a dedicated space for reading and tea, all provided free of charge. Ji also encourages people to write and share their thoughts on reading, which can be exchanged for coffee and snacks.
Xiangshan Book House also stands out for its encouragement of reader participation in volunteer service. Ji said: "The first time you come, we serve you; the second time you come, you serve yourself; and for the third time, you serve others."
Xiangshan Book House has received more than 100,000 donated books during 17 years, and the reader group has expanded from the elderly to children and families. It has also actively provided employment opportunities for people with disabilities. For example, a young man with visual impairment has worked his way up from staff member to store manager.
Xinhua Daily launched the reading brand "Xinhua Study" at the Jiangsu Bookfair in 2018. The province boasts a wide variety of book clubs, with some focusing on academic books in universities, some serving the farmers in rural areas, some catering to families or enterprise employees, and others centred around traditional culture or regional history in cities.
According to the province's Reading Promotion Association, there are nearly 6,000 reading organizations and tens of thousands of volunteers.
