Pupils are reading books at Vietnam"s Book Festival 2014
Attending the ceremony were Mr. Uong Chu Luu - Member of Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of National Assembly; Mr.Vu Ngoc Hoang - Member of Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Director of Central Propaganda Department; Mr.Nguyen Bac Son - Member of Party Central Committee, Deputy Director of Central Propaganda Department, Minister of Information and Communications;… and representatives of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Ministry of Education and Training; Hanoi People"s Committee; UNESCO…
Authorized by the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Minister of Information and Communications, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan announced the Prime Minister’s decision on Vietnam Book’s Day on April, 21st.
At the ceremony, Minister Nguyen Bac Son emphasized that the Vietnam’s people had a tradition of studying. When alived, the President Ho Chi Minh several times mentioned about the value of books and their essential role in the social life. Recently, the Party and State had paid a special attention to the construction and development of Vietnam’s culture in general and reading culture in particular. Many documents concerning publishing books, collecting books, storing books,… were issued to maintain and develop these activities.
Recognizing the role and importance of reading culture in society, the Party and State decided to choose April, 21st as "Vietnam’s Book Day". The selected "Vietnam’s Book Day" was associated with the famous work "Revolutionary Road" (1927) of President Ho Chi Minh - the first work in Vietnamese had been printed by Vietnamese craftsmen, to make a deep cultural significance. April is also the time of "World Book and Copyright Day" – April, 23rd, to honor the reading culture and encourage the love of reading. Therefore, “Vietnam’s Book Day” on April, 21st, also aimed to link national activities with "World Book and Copyright Day", reflecting the integration of Vietnam"s culture to whole human culture.
Minister Nguyen Bac Son said: Prime Minister"s decision on "Vietnam’s Book Day” was very important and having a great significance to contribute to promoting, encouraging the reading culture, that contributed to building a learning society. This was an important cultural event for book lovers and the whole social community, making a practical and important contribution to the construction and development of Vietnam culture.
In recent decades, the reading culture in Vietnam had made great progress. Every year, the publishing industry had published tens of thousands of books. In the year of 2013, the average reading level of Vietnamese people was 3.2 copies/person.
The public library systems had widely developed from provinces to districts and were reaching to many communes, wards and towns nationwide. The whole country had 01 national library, 63 provincial libraries, 649 district libraries and about 2,400 others in communes, wards and towns. Also, there were library systems in schools and universities, as well as many scientific - technical, military libraries... Many book stores had opened rapidly recently, especially in large cities.
At the ceremony, Minister Nguyen Bac Son urged all levels, departments, agencies and community organizations to raise the awareness of social responsibility in the construction and development of reading activities, towards building a learning society. Under the 1st “Vietnam’s Book Day”, a series of activities had taken place in various forms in three main locations in Hanoi: Ly Thai To Park, Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam and Vietnam’s National Library as well as a Book Street in Ngo Quyen - Dinh Le Street, from April, 19th to 21st.
