AMONG Shenzhen’s stories and legends, there were many about money, efficiency and values, but few about reading. However, the previous image of Shenzhen was overturned by a book fair in Shenzhen in 1996.

    From Nov. 8 to 18 in 1996, the seventh National Book Fair was held at the newly built Shenzhen Book City. More than 100,000 people came to the book fair on its first day. Book City’s sales volume for 10 days reached 21.77 million yuan (US$3.46 million), setting five records in the nation. There were so many visitors that the organizers had to introduce entrance tickets — five yuan each — to control the number of attendees. Entrance tickets had never been necessary at China’s book fairs before the Shenzhen event.

    People began to realize that Shenzheners were — and are — crazy about reading. The book fair later became an inspiration for the organizers of Shenzhen Reading Month.

    In May 2000, the city’s culture bureau submitted a report about holding a Reading Month in Shenzhen to the city government and on Nov. 1, 2000, the first Reading Month was unveiled. From then on, Shenzheners have had their own reading festival that never brings down the curtain.

    The sixth Reading Month, in 2005, took the event to a new level. It became not only popular in Shenzhen, but also widely known in the nation, making it a cultural brand for the city.    

    A number of cultural experts came to Shenzhen to join the Reading Forum, one of Reading Month’s prominent events, to share their knowledge with local readers.

    Historian Ji Lianhai said he was puzzled when he was first invited to speak at the Reading Forum. “I had thought reading was popular among knights of the pen and in places that boast a profound cultural background,” he said. “I did not know that Shenzhen, known only for its economic miracles, also has a reading atmosphere for all citizens.”

    Many other scholars and experts once shared the historian’s perception. However, after attending Reading Month activities they were deeply impressed and later became volunteers to promote Reading Month across the nation.

    Since 2001, the Reading Forum has become one of the most popular events of Reading Month. Chinese literature masters, famous scholars and professors from prestigious universities flock to the forum, giving Shenzheners an opputunity to listen to great speeches and share ideas that used to be only available in academic circles.

    The nation’s first reading seminar was held in Shenzhen on Nov. 6, 2009. The next day, the “Shenzhen Manifesto on Promoting Reading among All Citizens” was issued.

    More than 100 renowned scholars and leaders from the Central Government’s ministries attended the meeting. It was the first national seminar on promoting reading among all citizens.

    The participants wanted to spread Shenzhen’s experiences to other cities to stop the national reading rate from declining. A poll by the China Publishing Science Research Institute released in April 2009 showed that the national reading rate had been declining over the past six years and was below 50 percent in 2009.

    That effort took root. It’s now more than 12 years since the launch of Reading Month in 2000 and Shenzhen has spread its reading culture to more than 60 cities.    

    In 2009, as Reading Month entered its 10th year, three reading summits — the Summit on Chinese Nationals’ Reading Experience, the second Knowledge Cities World Summit and the International Summit on Public Libraries — were held.

    The three summits brought Reading Month to a new level. They displayed Shenzhen’s achievements after holding 10 successful Reading Months and enhanced the event’s influence in the nation and even in the world.

    When Shenzhen won the award for “Outstanding Developing Knowledge City” at the second Knowledge Cities World Summit in 2009, it signified that Shenzhen had won acknowledgement from international academic circles and proved that knowledge can bring great power to Shenzhen.

    (SD-Agencies)