On April 23th, the opening ceremony of the 2018WHU Reading Festival was grandly held in the WHU Main Library in honor of the World Book and Copyright Day. This year’s theme focuses on the drama and elocnte arts, aiming to arouse students’ passion for classics through a series of performances, speeches together with sharing sessions.
The festival opening ceremony.
Wang Xincai, the curator of WHU Library, illustrated the works done by the library in the past year and expressed his wish of continuously improving the reading environment as well as inheriting Chinese traditional culture in the future. He spoke highly of elocuting the classical masterpieces as it helped people understand the profound meaning and feeling in them, “When we read them out loud, we tend to acquire the wits and virtues of ancient people.”
Liao Yifan from the School of Marxism delivered a speech as a student delegate. She shared her reading experiences and suggested that reading classics was an efficient way to help people think thoroughly. Her tip on construing a book was to read with questions in mind, and it would also make reading easier and more interesting. When asked why she has read so much, she answered, “We always regret not reading enough books when in need of them. That is why we should always read new books and learn new things.”
Wang Xunkun performing
After the opening speeches, the activities carried on in turn. The most notable activity was the Chinese Classics Elocnting Competition, which attracted 193 participants. Articles chosen included First Ode for the Red Cliff by Su Shi, in which the great poet described sailing and drinking with a guest in the moonlight, expressing positive attitude towards life despite human beings’ limitation and emptiness. The performer Zhang Qi, a student from the School of Journalism and Communication, relived the poetry with his infectious voice, body language, and exact emotions that were in perfect harmony with the background sound and visual effects.
Wang Xukun was another amazing elocutionist that would later participate in the national contest representing Wuhan University. He chose his favourite, the Very Cricket by Liu Shahe for the final due to its wonderful imagery and artistic conception. As a lover of traditional culture, he regarded the competition as a way of recommending beautiful classics to a large audience. For this special occasion, he especially dressed in Hanfu. “The traditional Chinese culture demands more participation, especially from the youth, if it is to survive, spread and develop,” he said, “And elocnte is certainly one among the best methods for the performers to relive the scenes, allowing the audience to immerse in classical masterpieces.”
To promote the drama art, there were sessions of opera paper-cut, play reading, script appreciation and facial make-up activities, together with exhibitions of classical drama posters and some useful yetunpopular books. The Shakespeare Drama Club was going to putThe Twelfth Night on stage as its graduation drama on June 9th. All of these appealing activities had been carefully planned as a way of getting the students in touch with classical dramas from both East and West.
The top 10 Reading Starsbeing awarded.
The top 10 Reading Stars were awarded at the opening ceremony, with the top honor in arts Chen Wei borrowing 374 books and the top honor in sciences Guo Yu borrowing 335 books during last year. The event was created to encourage students to make full use of the university libraries and read more beneficial books.
The Reader Seeking Photography Competition also attracted students across the campus that had recorded beautiful and impressive scenes of readers, including little children, young students and the elderly. The readers in photos look peaceful and earnest, and the same goes for their souls.
There are still quite a few activities going on, all of which mounts to over twenty, ranging from book exchanges to expert speeches. Since 2013, WHU Library has been hosting the Reading Festival and it usually lasts for about 2 months, with great success of igniting the students’ deep love and honing better taste in books.
(Photo by Zhou Siyan)
(Edited by Xu Yumeng, Sun Jingyi, Edmund Wai Man Lai, Liu Jiachen and Liu Xiaoli)
