Opening its doors at the world’s largest single-structure bookstore, the 27th Shenzhen Reading Month officially launched on November 1, 2026, under the overarching theme “Reading Shenzhen, Reading the World.” People’s Daily reported that the massive literary festival features over 2,700 events designed to span all ages, regions, and demographics, utilizing the iconic “Bay Eye” venue as its central hub.
The Hong Kong Kung Fu World Exhibition and Greater Bay Area Cultural Exchange
As part of the cross-border “Read Cities Together” initiative, the “Hong Kong Kung Fu World” themed exhibition and book fair debuted on November 1 to showcase the deep cultural heritage of Hong Kong martial arts. Organized by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and coordinated by the Hong Kong Publication Federation, China News Service reported that the exhibition runs through November 22.
#HongKong cinema legend #BruceLeungSiuLung, best known for his role as the formidable Beast in Kung Fu Hustle, passed away on January 14, 2026, at the age of 77. Leung was celebrated not only for his memorable screen presence but also as a master of martial arts, earning his… pic.twitter.com/uR1Lxr9YeO
The showcase is divided into four distinct sections: “Hong Kong Martial Arts,” “Kung Fu Art,” “Today’s Heritage,” and “Heritage Conservation.” Curator Fok Kai-kong (credited in source materials as Zhao Shiqing) emphasized that the exhibition uses martial arts as a window to display nearly a century of cultural evolution in Hong Kong. Complementing the visual displays, the event features more than 100 published books from Hong Kong, six author lectures, and four intangible cultural heritage workshops.
Hong Kong’s Commissioner for Creative Industries, Leong Wai-ming, noted that the region is actively responding to the Shenzhen-Hong Kong “Co-Reading Twin Cities” consensus to build a shared literary Bay Area. Alongside the martial arts showcase, the cross-border program includes the “Pleasant Reading in Hong Kong” book exhibition and a historical-geographical seminar themed around the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
School Leadership Insights and Reading Value in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Shifting the focus to educational leadership, the Shenzhen Reading Month introduced its signature “Secretaries and Principals Talk Reading” series at the Shenzhen Book City Central City. ifeng.com reported that the inaugural lecture featured He Shiming, Party Secretary of Shenzhen Foreign Languages School (Group), who explored how classic literature sustains the human spirit amidst rapid technological disruption.
Addressing the audience, He posed a direct challenge regarding modern technology: When artificial intelligence can instantly generate answers, why should anyone spend hours reading a book? Drawing on the literary resilience of historical figures like Su Shi, He argued that reading must transcend test scores to cultivate an individual’s ideals, emotional depth, and psychological fortitude during times of adversity.
Student representatives also took the stage to share practical methodologies. Junior high student Liu Yuxin recommended a three-tier reading approach—rapid reading for narrative comprehension, slow reading for highlighted sentences, and detailed reading for emotional resonance—to transition away from superficial text consumption.
APEC Youth Initiatives and Regional Expansion
In alignment with the upcoming 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, the opening ceremony featured international and regional cooperative milestones.
The festival also marked the 30th anniversary of the founding and operation of the first Shenzhen Bookstore, unveiling a dedicated retrospective exhibition highlighting three decades of municipal reading infrastructure development. Furthermore, the city’s first special public fundraising fund for reading was launched on-site to distribute new books to children in remote mountainous regions, including Kashgar in Xinjiang, Zayu in Tibet, and Xunwu in Jiangxi.
