Interview with Qiao Li of Luchuan Academy on the 29th World Reading Day —— Reading according to the soul, reading abroad and reading loudly
Reading is not aware that spring is deep, and an inch of time is an inch of gold. Time flies, the spring is deep and the day is warm, and the 29th "World Reading Day" is approaching. Let’s walk into Ruili Luchuan Academy, talk with Qiao Li, the head of the academy and a Dai writer, and visit the past and mental journey of Luchuan Academy since its establishment 14 years ago.
Qiao Li, female, Dai, Ruili. He is a member of Chinese Writers Association, the seventh director of Yunnan Writers Association, a registered literary volunteer of Yunnan Writers Association, a member of the Standing Committee of Dehong CPPCC, a member of Ruili CPPCC, and the president of Ruili Literature and Art Creation Association. Published a collection of essays, Southwest Book: A Person’s Geography, etc.
Huang Likang: In 1995, UNESCO announced April 23rd as World Book Day, which is called World Book and Copyright Day, also known as World Book Day. The purpose of the establishment is to promote more people to read and write. I hope everyone can respect and thank the masters who have made great contributions to human civilization. These masters, as Stefan Zweig wrote in When the Stars Shine, "always shine like stars in the sky of human civilization." It is beautiful to look up at the starry sky, but when we look up at the starry sky, we should also look down and see that there are still people quietly trying to promote reading and writing in the lights of the world. Luchuan Academy is such a candle-like existence. In the past 14 years, the Academy has held hundreds of cultural activities and has always insisted on promoting reading and writing in a public welfare way. Today, let’s walk into Luchuan Academy and listen to its story.
The first activity of reading club, 2010 poetry reading meeting.
Qiao Li: I am an ordinary young Dai writer living in the southwest border of China. I am very happy to talk about my reading and life in the name of literature and reading, and talk about Luchuan Academy, which has been insisting on carrying out activities. I am grateful for this moment, because I have met many teachers and friends and traveled to many places because of reading and literature, and my life has been nourished by literature and reading. In 2010, I was lucky enough to join the Chinese Writers Association. Over the years, I have been studying hard and absorbing more nutrition, hoping to write books that people read and like to read. If the written works can have social significance and value, so much the better. This is the direction of my efforts.
At the 2024 annual meeting, some book lovers took a group photo.
Huang Likang: You are a person with a sense of social responsibility, and I like your enthusiasm and initial heart. The efforts and hardships of persisting in promoting reading and writing in a public welfare way are probably only known to the authorities. For 14 years, Luchuan Academy has always been the position that you and your friends stick to. Please tell us something about Luchuan Academy.
Qiao Li: In 2010, I founded the "Ruili Public Welfare Reading Club" in Ruili. In 2015, the reading club was named "Luchuan Academy". In August 2022, the academy was officially registered as a social group "Ruili Literature and Art Creation Association".
Since its establishment 14 years ago, Luchuan Academy has invited Cheng Zengyue (former executive vice president of Lu Xun College of Literature), writer Shi Zhongshan (Years of Burning Passion), Myanmar poet and scholar Mr. Huang He, national jade carving masters Wang Chaoyang, Xu Yanping, Yu Fengye, Zhang Zhiming, film and television actor Wu Jun, professor Tien Lung Yu of Yunnan University, teacher Ni Guoqiang, chairman of Dehong Federation, Yang Delong of Ruili Delong Group, and Ruili Painting and Calligraphy Association. Before 2020, Luchuan College will give regular public welfare lectures every weekend, including writing, drones, martial arts, English, calligraphy and Chinese studies. Later, due to the limitation of offline activities, rich online reading activities were carried out: weekly reading and ten-minute reading every day. Now we carry out offline reading exchange activities 1-3 times a month, and go out for sightseeing and cultural exchange activities irregularly.
After 14 years’ development, the Academy now has more than 100 book lovers from all walks of life, including many members of Chinese Writers Association, China Prose Society, Chinese Minority Writers Association, Chinese Poetry Society, Chinese Miniature Fiction Society, Yunnan Writers Association, Yunnan Literary Critics Association, Yunnan Reportage Society and Dehong Writers Association.
Annual meeting in 2024, giving awards to outstanding book lovers in 2023.
In March, 2024, Luchuan Academy held the camping bonfire annual meeting in 2024 and the award ceremony for outstanding book friends in 2023.
Luchuan Academy brings together a group of people who are willing to walk on the road of knowledge all their lives, and are also peers who pursue their dreams.
Huang Likang: Friends with literature, high mountains and flowing water, the time that exists because of reading, flashing with starlight, ink and piano sound. If Luchuan Academy is a skeleton and a face, then those who get together because of literature are the body temperature and soul of the Academy. As a writer, you must know that reading has a profound and great influence on a person. Please talk about your reading life and the influence and change of reading on you and the people around you.
Qiao Li: As a writer, it is a shame that I am not so diligent in writing, so I have always been very low-yield. But for reading, I have never relaxed for a moment. At home and on the road, I can read every day. And this kind of reading is conscious rather than compulsory. In the autumn of 2020, when Luchuan Academy first entered a village in Ruili, because the venue was a deserted yard, I was busy weeding and cleaning every day, and I couldn’t study for several days. At that time, I really realized the feeling of "not studying for three days, and my face was disgusting". Probably because of my enthusiasm for reading, many friends around me were unconsciously influenced and began to buy books and read. Later, it developed into "Luchuan Academy", from one person to a group of people. It is also because Luchuan Academy has always insisted on promoting reading in the border areas of Yunnan, and its influence has slowly spread unconsciously. There is an old gentleman in Myanmar, who is a scholar, poet and translator. After hearing about Luchuan Academy and me, he found us and was very happy to join us. He brought us lectures on Myanmar culture and explained the beauty of China’s ancient poems to Myanmar children. As for whether there is more and greater influence, I dare not talk nonsense about it.
Huang Likang: In a month, we will celebrate the annual "World Reading Day". Reading Day is not only the birthday of books, but also the festival for scholars. Excuse me, Mr. Qiao, what do you think is the significance of World Reading Day?
Qiao Li: I don’t know which book I read some time ago. The deep reason for saying "World Reading Day" is that there are fewer people reading, so this is a wake-up call. I think it makes sense. Reading may not make us richer materially, but there is no doubt that it can give our souls a place to live in this world. It is not the most terrible thing to choose fewer readers to read paper books, but to "stop reading" and even think that the weird behavior of "reading" is a terrible phenomenon.
In May 2019, the poetry recital "Poetry is the medicine of the world".
In 2018, I went to Mr. Lianghe College to collect the wind.
Reading is the noblest with the lowest threshold and the commonest with the highest threshold. If everyone reads books and reads good books, there is no doubt that this society can be better promoted. The recording and inheritance functions of characters can make us understand what the "past events" and "unreachable" are like when reading; The thinking and tension of words can enlighten us and expand our mind in reading, thus opening up the pattern and horizon.
The world is still the world, but after reading and thinking, your perception of the world will change.
Moreover, I think the significance of reading day is not to ask you to study on this day, but to remind you that reading can be carried out at any time. The length of time is not a reason not to read. Fragment reading is also an accumulation and a habit.
Huang Likang: Yes, I quite agree with Mr. Qiao’s view that reading is a "habitat". The Polish poetess Sin Posca has a very beautiful poem, "I flaunted myself in another fate and had a rest in a vivid mystery". Reading and writing bring us "another fate" and "mysterious rest". In the past 14 years, Luchuan Academy has insisted on hosting public welfare activities, and the existence of the Academy is the habitat of a scholar. It is said that people gather firewood, so we would like you to tell us some stories about "reading and people" and "academy and people".
Qiao Li: The difficulty is certain, but fortunately, there are several friends who have been traveling together and are full of affection for the academy, and there are also book lovers who have joined in one after another. Their love and support for the academy is the reason for us to persist. Many things are deeply touching:
When the Academy was invited to settle in a village in 2020, because the site had been abandoned for decades, it needed to invest a lot of money to complete water and electricity connection, interior decoration and other matters. At this time, more than 100 people from the college volunteered to donate money. One of the mothers donated one month’s salary. In just over ten days, we raised enough money. Then, there are book lovers in the academy who know how to decorate, take on these tasks and decorate at the lowest price. Because labor is particularly expensive, he did it himself. Other book lovers have also joined in the construction of the academy, picking up hoes and sickles to weed the ground and planting flowers and plants specially brought by book lovers. In a short period of time, the venue that will be settled in will be completely new, and everyone’s efforts are touching. Although the academy is no longer in that village, the memories of our common struggle are always beautiful.
In addition to reading together and making progress together, the academy also participated in social donation activities. The donor is two children who are now in high school among the citizens of the state. Some people will wonder why there are still students who need financial aid to continue their studies. Because they have completed the nine-year compulsory education stipulated by the state, they will not be able to pay for their future studies. Their families are very poor, and if they can’t get help from the outside world, their children can only give up continuing their studies and return to rural agriculture or live in society. Therefore, the trickle-down actions of each of us will be of great help to their life at this stage. It is against this background that we began to donate money for their education. From July 2021 to March 2024, we have donated 33,000 yuan to support two students. Our plan is to support our children until they graduate.
There are many touching things, so I won’t list them one by one. Some people in the academy impressed me deeply, and their transformation is also the significance of our persistence.
The first one is a father, who has been reading (reciting) with his children for more than 500 days now, without interruption. Sometimes I hear that my child has a cold and is still reading, coughing and reading aloud. Children sometimes read Chinese textbooks, sometimes read The Journey to the West, and sometimes read fairy tales. Father reads poetry, prose and so on.
The second is a mother, the mother of two sons. My impression of her is that she is very shy, timid and afraid to speak too loudly. Suddenly one day, she began to read the clock in the group. This surprised me very much. Many times, family ensembles are often heard in her background: the voices of old people, the shouts of children, and all kinds of voices.
The third book club, he is a boiling water station, and usually delivers water and gas to people. One day, I learned about the existence of the academy in a guest’s office and joined in. After a year, he wrote the first article in his life, and it was not bad, full of emotion, and his expression was complete and smooth.
There are also many book lovers who pay no attention to the writing and publishing of WeChat official account articles in the academy, the statistics of reading time, the notification of various matters, data sorting and other trivial matters for many years … …
Therefore, it is these people who have continuously and continuously provided impetus for the academy over the years. Without them, the academy would not be able to go now.
Huang Likang: It’s great. These people and stories are touching and bring people strength and hope. The short time spent together is brilliant because of reading and literature. I hope this wonderful time can always accompany everyone who loves reading and literature. All good things must come to an end. Finally, I would like to ask Mr. Qiao about his outlook and expectation for the future of Luchuan Academy.
Qiao Li: Time keeps going forward. One day, due to the limitations of age and energy, when I can’t continue to insist, I hope that someone who is willing to pay will take over and continue this literary and artistic marathon, and strive to make Luchuan Academy a "century-old academy" in Yunnan.
I hope that with the efforts of Luchuan Academy, more people will join in reading and make reading our daily life. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to seek some help. The venue and funds have always been the shortcomings that restrict the development of the academy. Although we have persisted for so long without a venue, there is no doubt that these shortcomings have definitely restricted the development of the academy. Therefore, I hope that Luchuan Academy can get support in this respect when all conditions permit.
Yunnan net reporter Huang Likang