Five Facts About Nanjing as the “ City of Literature”
On the 31st of October, 2019, known as the World Cities’ Day, UNESCO designated 66 new cities to join the Organization’s Network of Creative Cities. Among these cities, Nanjing became China’s first City of Literature.
Why did Nanjing become the City of Literature? These five facts will explain everything.
The Dream of the Red Mansions: This book is a masterpiece of Chinese classic novels and was inspired in Nanjing. Cao Xuqin, as the author of this literature, lived in Nanjing since his childhood and completed this excellent work in Nanjing as well. The story features numerous Nanjing tourist attractions such as Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufacturing Museum, Zhan Garden, Sui Garden, etc.
Nanjing Reading Festival: it’s an annual festival in Nanjing. As a well-known local event, it began in 1996 and has occurred for 25 years. The festival includes various cultural activities such as poetry reading competitions, “explore Nanjing via famous literature “games, Nanjing Scholars Exhibitions, and different reading forums.
The most beautiful bookstore: Librairie Avant-Garde, is eagerly called “Nanjing Literary Living Room”. Like the Guggenheim Museum, it has promoted the image of Nanjing city and the tourism economy (the Guggenheim Museum is a famous urban brand decision-marketing). Librairie Avant-Garde has been named the world’s “most beautiful bookstore” by CNN and BBC several times. As a cultural landmark of Nanjing, we are so proud of it.
Cultural institution: Nanjing, where the first public library (Jiangnan Library) was established in Chinese history. Now, apart from Nanjing Library (provincial library, the third largest library in China) and Jinling Library (sub-provincial library, once awarded the title of “First-Class Library” by the Ministry of Culture), Nanjing is active in nearly 500 reading There are thousands of literary communities and associations.
Cultural heritage: The works of Nanjing writers have won major literary awards across the country. Many representative works of writers have been translated and published in foreign languages, which has had a good international influence. Nanjing has “Zhongshan”, “Yuhua”, “Youth”, and other literary journals with wide influence throughout the country, which are the cradle and important town for cultivating writers.
