"One City, One Read" 21-Day Shared Reading Event Officially Launches – Join Us!
Spring is here, and it’s the perfect time to open a book. Marking the first “National Reading Week” since the National Reading Promotion Regulations took effect, Wenzhou Library, together with libraries across the city and university libraries, is proud to launch the “One City, One Read” event—a large-scale collaborative reading initiative that brings thousands of people together in a shared celebration of reading.
As a co-organizer, Wenzhou-Kean University Library has selected two classics for all staff, faculty and students: Flowers for Algernon and The Temple of Earth and I.
We invite you to join tens of thousands of people across the city in reading these two books, experiencing two different lives, and having a heartfelt conversation with the “Charlie” and “Shi Tiesheng” within you.
The “Charlie” Within You
Flowers for Algernon
This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I knew and loved, driven me out of the bakery. Now, I’m more alone than ever before.
Charlie Gordon’s progress reports start out full of misspellings. He naively believed that if he became smart, he would have many friends.
He did become smart. But the people who had smiled at him had actually been laughing at him all along. He gained intelligence but lost his innocence; he saw the sun, only to return to darkness.
Reading this book, you'll follow Charlie from innocence to awareness, from awareness to loneliness, and in the end, still leave behind those gentle words: “Please put some flowers on Algernon's grave.”
Reading allows us to step into someone else’s life—and to see the “Charlie” that lives within ourselves.
The “Shi Tiesheng” Within You
The Temple of Earth and I
In the still rays of light suffusing the park, it was easy for a person to see the time, and easy to see his own shadow.
Shi Tiesheng became paralyzed at twenty-one. He wheeled himself into the Temple of Earth and sat there for fifteen years.
There, he watched the seasons: spring was the sound of pigeon whistles drifting above the altar, summer was the long droning of cicadas, autumn was the chime of wind bells beneath the ancient eaves, and winter was the casual, hollow pecking of woodpeckers.
Slowly, he came to understand one thing: “Death is something one needn’t be anxious to bring about.”
📖 Why Read These Two Books?
These two books ask the same question:
When we’re running as hard as we can, is there a place where we can stop and feel at ease?
The answer, perhaps, lies in reading.
That’s why we’ve launched this 21-day shared reading plan—to read deeply with the guidance of group leaders, check in daily, and discuss weekly, making reading a habit. Let the words slowly sink into your heart. Wander through Charlie’s progress reports and Shi Tiesheng’s meditations in the ancient garden. Take your time going back and forth. Let your mind find its stillness.
⏰ Schedule
●Registration: Now – 4/6
●Online Shared Reading: 4/7 – 4/27
(Daily check-ins + Weekly discussions)
●Offline Sharing Session: Late April
(Time and location to be announced)
Note: The final project will be carried out alongside the daily check-ins.
📝 Registration
If you love reading, are willing to set aside some time each day to dive into books, check in and share online, and actively complete the final project in your own way, then scan the QR code below to join our shared reading team!
Flowers for Algernon
The Temple of Earth and I
Note: Recruitment for group leaders will take place within the group.
🎁 Exclusive Benefits
1.Complete the 21-day check-in to receive a custom cultural and creative commemorative seal from Wenzhou Library.
2.Complete the 21-day check-in and excel in the final project to receive a Wenzhou-Kean Bear.
3.Depending on participation performance, receive an “Outstanding Shared Reader” or “Outstanding Group Leader” honorary certificate issued by the Wenzhou Library Society.
「Note: WKU Library reserves the right of final interpretation of this event.」
In this 21-day shared reading journey, we read Charlie, and we read Shi Tiesheng; we read their longings and their pauses, and we read our own running and our catching of breath.
When you turn the final page, you may come to realize: reading, it turns out, is that place where we can stop—and from which we can keep moving forward.
Just as Charlie, in the end, places flowers on Algernon's grave,just as Shi Tiesheng sees time within the Temple of Earth—may you, after these 21 days, be able to give yourself a gentle look back.
Content & Layout丨LIN Yujia
Review丨GU Mengmeng & HU Linxiao & REN Yuanyuan
