On April 21, as the 30th World Reading Day is approaching, in order to thoroughly study, publicize and implement Xi Jinping’s cultural thoughts, advocate the whole society to participate in reading, and create a strong atmosphere of loving reading, reading good books, and being good at reading, China Daily and Beijing Foreign Studies University successfully held the 2025 World Reading Day “The Power of Reading” interactive activity.
Qu Yingpu, president and editor-in-chief of China Daily, and Wang Dinghua, secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Foreign Studies University, delivered speeches, Zhu Baoxia, vice president of China Daily, and Zhao Gang, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Beijing Foreign Studies University and vice president of Beijing Foreign Studies University, attended the event. Tang Wensheng, consultant of the Chinese Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and former vice chairman, Wang Jiawu, former chief engineer and aerospace expert at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center of China, Agshen Aliyev, director of the Azerbaijani Language Teaching and Research Office of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Tanya, director of the Beijing Serbian Cultural Center, young writers Ayi and Meng Xiaoshu, and Russian student Lin Zirui from the School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, and nearly 100 Chinese and foreign students from different fields shared their reading stories and interacted.
Qu Yingpu (first from left), President and Editor-in-Chief of China Daily, and Wang Dinghua (first from right), Party Secretary of Beijing Foreign Studies University (first from right), presented souvenirs to the guests participating in the event.
In his speech, Qu Yingpu said that the Chinese nation advocates reading, and emphasizes the study of things and the cultivation of unity and governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s message to the young people, reading more books with words and more books with words without words, focusing on learning life experience and social knowledge. Every good book is a world. We must read a book with words, so that we can transcend the limitations of reality and understand the diversity of the world. As students of the Foreign Language School, reading original foreign languages is a “shortcut” to cross cultural barriers and an important way to achieve cross-civilization exchanges and mutual learning. Against the backdrop of the accelerated evolution of century-old changes, we must read the wordless book. We hope that young people will root their knowledge in the soil of reality, become pillars of the world under the nourishment of reality, shape the pattern, improve their abilities in cross-cultural dialogue, and actively promote communication between China and foreign countries.
In his speech, Wang Dinghua said that reading is the residence of the personal soul, a solid bond for the inheritance of national civilization, and a bridge for exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. Under the great changes unseen in a century, reading is the key path to cultivating talents with global competence and the cornerstone project to improve international communication capabilities. China Daily uses words as bricks and stones to build a bridge for communication between China and foreign countries, while North and foreign countries use language as boats to help civilization exchanges and mutual learning. The two sides will use this cultural co-construction activity as a sign to kick off the joint construction of the International School of Journalism and Communication by Beijing Foreign Studies University and China Daily. I believe that through brand activities like Book Day, more outstanding international news communication talents who are “poetry and self-professional” will be cultivated, and extraordinary wisdom and strength will be contributed to China’s journey to the world and understanding China.
Tang Wensheng said that in addition to their native language, people who learn foreign languages can also learn about the world in another or even more languages and communicate with the world. She shared her translation experience in foreign affairs activities, emphasizing that reading before and after, and even reading “crushing temporarily” are important ways to accumulate knowledge and improve abilities. In the past, when I worked at China Daily, I could truly feel the lack of my own knowledge, and a large number of new things came to me every day; at present, artificial intelligence is rapidly penetrating various industries. If I don’t study or read, I will be out of touch with the world and the times. I hope that the majority of young people will draw “nutrients” with the “power of reading” and contribute to the future of the motherland.
Wang Jiawu believes that books are the light that penetrates ordinary life and are the “base for holding a rocket to fly into the sky.” Systematic learning is the key to breaking through the barriers of multidisciplinary majors in aerospace engineering, and reading is regarded as the cornerstone of building systematic thinking. The development of the aerospace industry is changing with each passing day. Reading is the key to mastering theory and cutting-edge technology. Only by absorbing professional essence through continuous reading can we cultivate the tenacious will of “zero fault tolerance” in aerospace engineering. “Books are like enlightening stars, illuminating our journey toward the sky and strengthening our strength.” He called on practitioners to use books as their boats, gather the stars of wisdom in the vast sea of books, and let China’s aerospace industry shine brighter on the sky.
Agshen Aliyev said that the most amazing thing about reading is its growth. Some books are like seeds. When you first read them, you may only see the superficial words, but as your experience grows, they will take root and sprout in your heart. When I opened the Analects of Confucius 20 years ago, those wisdoms were too profound for him. But looking back today, those sentences that seemed to understand but didn’t understand have grown into towering trees in their academic life, and now they have become milestones in their translation career.
Tanya shared her experience of getting along with books since childhood and learning Chinese through reading. She said that she liked reading books since she was a child and liked China very much, so she decided to learn Chinese when she went to college. Although she felt it was difficult at first, she gradually discovered that Serbia and China have many similarities. She believes that books are very important to us. Through reading, we can expand our understanding and understanding of the world and explore the colorfulness of life in the mystery of language.
A Yi gave a speech on the theme of “Reading brings consciousness”, sharing his personal experience from being a policeman to applying for a newspaper editor with a “hot mind” to working as a newspaper editor to engaging in writing. He believes that the most beneficial thing in this world is reading, from small daily life to large numbers of learning from philosophy and ideas to promoting social change.
Meng Xiaoshu focused on sharing his views on the importance of reading in the era of artificial intelligence. She believes that reading is not only for obtaining “information”, but no one gets information faster than the one from algorithms; reading can help us establish a deeper connection with the world and broaden the dimension of life. At the same time, artificial intelligence will not replace the profession of writers, and it is more likely that writing will be adopted in the “human-machine co-creation” model.
Lin Zirui said that in the world of his mother tongue, his favorite is the classics of Russian literature; after coming to China, he began to read in Chinese and gained another surprise. Reading taught him to see the world from a broader perspective and also allowed him to shoulder the mission of cultural communication. He said that in the future, he will continue to use reading as a bridge, use books to connect the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Russia, and write a more exciting cultural chapter together.
Chinese and foreign students from Beijing Foreign Studies University recited the original work “The Power of Reading” in multilingual forms.
Chinese and foreign students participate in the 2025 World Book Day “The Power of Reading” interactive activity jointly organized by China Daily and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
This event is one of the latest achievements of China Daily and Beijing Foreign Studies University in co-construction work. It is jointly planned and organized by China Daily Culture Channel, Beijing Foreign Studies University International News and Communication School, China Daily Network, and China Foreign Government Information Service Platform. Before the event began, Chinese and foreign students from Beijing Foreign Studies University sang “The World Given to Me” and recited the original work “The Power of Reading” in multilinguals. (over)
[Editor in charge: Zhang Tianlei]
