Fruitful time

Dong Jinxian, 58, who is retired and who sometimes attends lectures at the October Literature Academy, said she did not go to college when she was young and never thought there would be a chance to meet with well-known writers and listen to them share their views on literature.

"My daughter took me there for the first time and we listened to a lecture titled Dream of the Red Chamber given by Li Jingze, vice-chairman of the Chinese Writers Association," she said. "I love the stories in that book (written by Cao Xueqin), but I didn't know there were so many interesting reading angles and anecdotes about it. The lecture was a fun and fruitful time for me. When I have the time, I like to spend it at the academy."

The institute has held 11 lectures on world-level literary works given by well-known writers or critics. It also stages various cultural activities.

Li said during a literary forum last month: "Literature is not just the writers' world. It's also a world for readers.

"Literature is not just about creation. It matters more about entering public life, the readers, the people, which will decide a nation's future. Beijing, as capital of the country, has accumulated rich and precious experience on this."

He added that the city is the cradle of China's modern literature. The capital and the writers living in it have been leading the way in terms of China's literary fashion, style and direction, he said. "Thus, Beijing has its responsibility to the nation's literary development, which is destined to have a deep influence on the whole country."