BEIJING -- When the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) launched a reading campaign in April 2020, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), president of the People's Republic of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission, gave instructions and stressed the importance of such campaign.

Through reading, members can gain more knowledge and wisdom, improve their capacity, and thus acquire a better understanding of the CPPCC and make themselves more competent at consultation and deliberation on state affairs. This is not only an inherent requirement for the members to perform their duties in the new era, but also an important measure to uphold and advance the system of the CPPCC.

Xi hoped that the reading campaign will be fully used to encourage political advisors to improve their reading abilities and read more good books, so as to enhance their theoretical and professional competence. He also hoped they would set examples and encourage more people to read.

Over the past two years, the CPPCC National Committee has fully implemented Xi's important instructions and actively organized reading activities among its members. A total of 96 reading groups have been established, and 2,104 members from 34 sectors have been reading and exchanging ideas via the CPPCC National Committee Academy online, which has so far received more than 2.62 million visits and 470,000 comments.

The CPPCC National Committee held a forum on Studying and Implementing General Secretary Xi's Important Instructions and Advancing the Reading Campaign on Friday in Beijing.

Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and chairperson of the CPPCC National Committee, addressed the forum. Wang said, Xi's instructions answered a series of important questions as follows: Why is reading important for CPPCC National Committee members? How to organize reading activities? What to expect from reading?

Xi's instructions, which are insightful, instrumental and targeted, have pointed the direction and injected strong momentum for the reading campaign. CPPCC National Committee members should further enhance political awareness, have a deep understanding of the essence of Xi's instructions and the significance of the reading campaign, sum up experience, know the rules, and increase effectiveness to advance the reading campaign.

Wang noted that, over the past two years, reading activities among CPPCC National Committee members have developed with constant exploration and innovation, and achieved considerably. They have become an important avenue for members to acquire more knowledge, wisdom and competence, a major platform to enhance theoretical and political awareness and build consensus, and a top brand with distinctive CPPCC features.

Wang stressed the need to make the best use of reading activities among members. It requires efforts to maintain the correct political direction, leverage the CPPCC's unique strength, give full play to the members' principal role, focus on helping them to perform duties more effectively, and further apply the results of reading activities.

It is essential to provide better support to build a strong smart reading platform and take multiple measures to mobilize members' enthusiasm for reading. A "reading plus" model should be promoted to integrate reading activities with performance of duties and thus create a synergy to enable members to transform what they have learned from reading into duty-performance abilities and outcomes in their work.

It is also important to follow an incremental and persistent approach in fostering a culture of reading among CPPCC members, who can thus achieve common progress intellectually through consultation, discussion and mutual learning.

Wang also called for efforts to fully leverage the CPPCC's strengths in gathering talent, pooling wisdom, and reaching out to the general public to create more fine works and exert a ripple effect. In this way, reading activities will become an effective channel for members to contact with the people and help foster a culture of reading both within the CPPCC and in society at large.

Vice chairpersons of the CPPCC National Committee attended the forum. Representatives of national and provincial committee members also gave speeches. The forum was held via video link, with the main venue set at the National Committee's general office and other venues at general offices of provincial committees.