Here’s a polished English translation of the Chinese title: **”Nourish the Heart with Classics, Forge the Soul through Reading — Runze Garden Education Co-Launches ‘Bookish China, Cultural Confidence’ Special Event”**

BeijingApril 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On April 23, during the first National Reading Activity Week following the official implementation of the “National Reading Promotion Regulations,” a grand event themed “Bookish China, Cultural Confidence” was held in Beijing, marking the National Reading Activity Week and a new book launch.

This event was jointly initiated by the China Academy of Press and Publication and Runzeyuan Education, organized by the New Education Classic Co-learning Project Team, and co-organized by 99 institutions including the Education Bureau of Qiyang City, Yongzhou, the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Huimin County, and the Xiuwen Yangming Literature Research Center. It aimed to implement the spirit of the “Regulations,” further promote the construction of a bookish society and a culturally strong nation, and jointly foster a strong atmosphere for nationwide reading.

In 2026, China’s national reading initiative reached a milestone. The “National Reading Promotion Regulations” were officially implemented, for the first time stipulating through administrative regulations that the fourth week of April each year be designated as “National Reading Activity Week.”

The themed event adopted a “1 main venue + N nationwide live-streamed sub-venues” model, with over 1,130 live-streaming points across the country. Nearly 195,000 people participated both online and offline simultaneously. The event was live-streamed on 45 platforms, with a total of 9.051 million views across the entire network, and the total page views exceeded 79.38 million.

As a key project of “Bookish April,” the organizers launched the “100 Million Yuan Reading Gift Package” and “10,000 Free Good Books” activities, allowing readers to receive a free good book delivered to their homes, including new works by renowned authors and classics such as the Four Great Classical Novels, bringing the fragrance of books directly to thousands of households. Readers can participate by searching for the WeChat service account “Bookish April Activity.”

According to incomplete statistics, during the event, 21,000 people participated in a 21-day cultural classic co-reading activity, with a cumulative reading time exceeding 2.55 million minutes.

Ni Yi, Vice President of the China Academy of Press and Publication, provided an in-depth interpretation of the “Regulations.” He emphasized the need to strengthen the supply of high-quality reading content, innovate and sustain reading promotion activities tailored to local conditions, and advance the construction of “bookish campuses,” “bookish government offices,” and “bookish enterprises,” integrating reading into daily life to foster a healthy reading ecosystem.

Guo Xiaoyue, Vice President of the New Education Research Institute at Soochow University and Secretary-General of the Soochow University New Teacher Fund, delivered a speech titled “Nourishing the Heart with Classics, Becoming a Glimmer of New Education in the Era of National Reading.” She recounted how, since Professor Zhu Yongxin initiated the New Education Experiment in 2000, the New Education community has persisted for over two decades in co-reading, co-writing, and co-living, practicing bookish campuses and bookish families, and inspiring more peers to promote reading practices for a bookish China, helping children find classics that resonate deeply in the AI era.

Yang Zhaoming, Distinguished Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies, Shandong University, pointed out that the more powerful AI becomes, the more precious classics are—classics train independent thinking, nourish the mind and emotions, and construct knowledge systems, serving as the “spiritual foundation” for one’s life.

At the event, several practitioners shared stories of how reading transformed their lives. Chen Xiaoping, Principal of Yuhua Experimental Second Primary School in Changsha’s Yuhua District, led the entire school in co-reading the “Analects,” turning a struggling school into a highly regarded one in just four years. Her touching story of “leading reading with a broken arm in a sling” and “shifting from demands to inspiration” moved the audience. Wang Liying, a rural mother from Handan, Hebei, overcame despair after her child dropped out of school and her family fell apart, achieving a turnaround by studying classics and finding new life. Lin Xiuhui, 84, emerged from a post-surgery slump by rekindling her spirit through Yangming philosophy, vowing to be a “lovely elderly person.” Zhang Jinghua, worried about “graduating into loneliness,” advocated for careful reading and transcription, making reading a warm support in old age. Lin Jinzhong, Chairman of Qingdao Bookish Flavor Catering Management Co., Ltd., shifted from subcontracting to full self-operation and established a charity kitchen, admitting that classics gave him the courage to tackle difficult tasks: “Reading gives us the courage to do the right thing when times are tough.” Teacher Liu Yang spent 16 years practicing “education is not about screening, but about lighting up,” insisting on writing words of praise for every child on their birthday, firmly believing that “as long as children don’t lose self-confidence, they will eventually become useful members of society.”

During the event, Guo Hongbo, Party Branch Secretary of Runzeyuan Education and Vice President of the Beijing Hospitality Institute, announced the official release of “Falling in Love with China—Cultural Confidence, National Rejuvenation,” published by Guangming Daily Press, which has been designated as a recommended reading by the “Guangming Reading Club.”

He noted that the “New Education Classic Co-learning” program has served over 200,000 people, with more than 70% of participants reporting improved parent-child relationships and smoother home-school communication. He emphasized that a bookish China is the cultural confidence nurtured in every family, enterprise, and campus, starting with reading a book that touches the heart, allowing classics to take root and confidence to grow.

Zhang Hanyue, Head of the Classic Classroom at Runzeyuan Education, combined insights from “Cultural Confidence, National Rejuvenation” to highlight the profound wisdom of the “Four Greats of Life” embedded in Chinese classics: the great secret of life is the boundless treasure within one’s heart; the great truth of life is the law of action and reaction; the great strategy of life is cultivating one’s own spiritual quality; and the great value of life is helping others cultivate their spiritual quality. Returning from a prestigious overseas university and after 12 years of studying Chinese classics, she said, “Looking back, the best education has always been in China. It is an education where life awakens life, a hall of Chinese sages’ classics.”

This event was a vivid practice of the “National Reading Promotion Regulations,” fully demonstrating the powerful synergy of policy guarantees, social collaboration, and individual action. National reading is gradually integrating into families, campuses, communities, and enterprises, becoming an everyday lifestyle and spiritual pursuit for hundreds of millions of Chinese people. By nourishing the heart with books and forging the soul with culture, the power of classics will take root and sprout in more corners, injecting inexhaustible cultural confidence and spiritual momentum into national rejuvenation.