Taipei, April 7 (CNA) A national campaign was launched by theCouncil of Cultural Affairs (CAA) and other sponsors to encouragemore people to cultivate reading habits in Taiwan, amidst a moderntrend of spending less time on reading books.
The 2006 National Reading Campaign was officially launched Fridayat a book exhibition displaying a collection of 63 works ofliterature, the campaign's theme this year. The books were selectedand recommended by the CAA.
In addition to the book exhibition in Kingstone Bookstoresislandwide from April 7-May 19, an essay competition and acloze test will be held. Writers will also visit campuses forspeeches from April 17-June 17 to advocate the importance of reading.
"Statistics show Taiwanese college students spend only one hour aday reading, which is sad as far as I'm concerned," said CAA ViceChairman Wu Chin-fa, who is also an author.
"Great writers are the architects of society's souls, which iswhy we have selected literature as the theme for the campaign. Whenyou face a crossroads in life, the wisdom found in books can save yoursoul," Wu said.
"As a writer, I would say that reading is far more enjoyable thanwriting," said Hsu Hui-chih, whose poetry is amongthe exhibition's selected publications.
"Literature reflects the diversity of human nature. The beauty ofliterature is that it's not science and it helps you to learn moreabout people," Hsu said.
This is the third consecutive year that CAA has organized anational reading campaign.