April 23 is known as World Book Day. The idea of setting a day to encourage reading came out from UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) in 1995. In fact, it started long before that in Spain. In 1922, Spanish writer Vicente Clavel Andrés suggested the idea as a way to honor their famous writer Miguel de Cervantes. Four years later, the first celebration took place on October 7, Cervantes' birthday. In 1930, it was moved to April 23, the date of his death.
Every year since 2001, one city around the world is chosen to be the UNESCO World Book Capital for a year. The task of the city is to carry out activities to encourage "a culture of reading and spreading its values in all ages in and out of the country."
Though no Chinese cities have been chosen as the World Book Capital so far, a recent national survey shows a steady (稳定的) rise in reading as a habit in China. According to the survey, each Chinese adult read an average of 4.78 printed books and 3.33 e-books in 2022, both a bit higher than the figures from 2021. Besides, listening to audiobooks(有声读物) was another rising habit, with 35. 5 percent of adults saying they were used to listening to them.
Reading books gives people the chance to look into different worlds and meet new people both real and imagined. Ancient Chinese believed in the saying: Read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles. Reading is a way to learn from the past, understand the world, and get life wisdom (智慧). So make every day World Book Day!
