Newman Huo

    “EVERY city has its wish to be respected as well as its reason for being respected … How will Shenzheners expect their own city to be respected? Let Shenzhen become respected for its love of reading.”

    The 11th Shenzhen Reading Month was officially launched with the recitation of the Shenzhen Reading Month Manifesto by scores of schoolgirls at a ceremony at Book City CBD Store in Futian District on Nov. 1.

    The focus of this year’s month-long campaign will be on promoting reading among young migrant workers, as well as new ways of reading such as online reading, electronic books and mobile media.

    Among the events, 20 “Book Houses for Young Workers” will be set up this month, and 10 enterprises that promote reading along with 10 model workers will be awarded for their achievements.

    The 6th National Forum for Migrant Workers’ Literature will be held from Nov. 17 to 19, during which the “New Generation Peasant-Turned-Writers’ Series Books” will be released. The series of forums, “Young Workers’ Big Classrooms,” which runs throughout the reading month, will feature speakers from all walks of life, such as An Zi, Guan Ai, Jin Xue, Xu Yongcai, Yao Meng and Zhang Chunli.

    With the launch of the 11th Reading Month, the appraisal of the 2010 Ten Best Books began.

    Different from previous years, city residents have been invited to take part in this year’s appraisal. Readers can send their list of favorite books to the organizer at: szsb3030@126.com by Nov. 10.

    The first batch of 2,000 books also began their journey around five schools at Cuiyuan Middle School in Luohu District on Nov. 1 this year.

    Cuiyuan Middle School has made a book-floating agreement with Luofang Middle School, Wenjin Middle School, Yijing Primary School and Houhai Middle School to share books this month.

    Organizers of this year’s Reading Month also launched a new Web site, www.szsky.com, where readers can exchange their books and share the pleasure of reading online.

    Additionally, as 10 Pizza Hut branches have joined the book-floating campaign this year, readers can pick up the books they have exchanged online at these restaurants to save on mailing costs.

    Shenzhen Reading Month was initiated in 2000 with a mission to provide an ideal reading environment for city residents.

    According to the organizing committee, more than 1,900 activities have been held during the Reading Month over the past 10 years, involving nearly 56 million people.

    The annual month-long campaign has become a name tag for Shenzhen, which has long resented its “cultural wasteland” tag imposed by other cities.

    “This year’s Reading Month has special significance as it marked the beginning of the campaign’s second decade,” said Yin Changlong, of the organizing committee of the Reading Month.

    “In the next decade, we will make more efforts to guide readers to cultivate reading, a critical eye for knowledge and the capacity for reading good books,” he said.

    According to a 10-year (2011-2020) guideline unveiled at the launch ceremony, Shenzhen aims to have at least 75 percent of the total population reading for at least one hour a day, paving the way for its application for the title of UNESCO World Book Capital City in the next few years.

    Details about exact dates, venues and contact information on the 403 activities of this year’s Reading Month can be found in free catalogs available at all book stores across Shenzhen.