Chinese President Xi urged people to read more on the occasion of World Book Day as his book recommendations began trending on Chinese social media.
The Chinese president also asked Communist Party leaders to “take the lead in reading” and encouraged children to develop reading habits.
President Xi has reportedly read Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s works including “Gitanjali”, “The Crescent Moon” and “The Gardener” which has “greatly inspired” him.
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Xi has also read the works of Russian writers including Mikhail Lermontov’s “A Hero of Our Time” including “The Communist Manifesto”, “Das Kapital” and Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel “War and Peace”.
Reports claim Xi had arrived in China’s Shaanxi province in 1969 as a youth with a suitcase full of books. The Chinese president had offered people to have a look at his bookshelf in 2013 and has often quoted famous lines during his speeches.
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Xi reportedly called the “The Communist Manifesto” a “rich theoretical treasure house” which can help to draw “spiritual nourishment”.
Xi has also listed Shakespeare’s works including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “The Merchant of Venice,” “Twelfth Night,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear,” and “Macbeth” among his favourites and has read Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”.
The Communist Party president called “Les Miserables” as a “great work” while lauding its “great power to move readers”.
(With inputs from Agencies)
