On the morning of April 16, the launch ceremony of the call for submissions of the "I Love Beijing" collection of works was held at the special zone for reading activities at the 2023 Beijing Book Fair. Following the guidance of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, the event was initiated by Beijing Publishing Group and co-hosted by Art Exhibitions China and Beijing Evening News. The collection is open to original submissions from youth aged 6 to 18 worldwide, including paintings and articles that depict what Beijing is to them and express their love for the city.

As introduced by Xu Hejian, Deputy Director General of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and spokesman of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, Beijing is both a millennia-old city brimming with vitality and a cosmopolitan city featuring inclusiveness, openness, and modernity. That's why the international city attracts more and more friends from all over the world. Xu said that the event would be a wonderful platform for young people around the world to get to know more and fall in love with the city, and looked forward to the emergence of outstanding works that showcase the vivid and beautiful image of Beijing to the world.

Wu Wenxue, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Director and General Manager of Beijing Publishing Group, said during the launch ceremony that the Group would seize this opportunity to pool the strength from various sectors of society and do its best to promote the culture of the capital city.

Qiao Ye, Vice Chairman of the Beijing Writers' Association and Editor-in-Chief of "I Love Beijing", believed that this event would sow seeds of kindness and beauty in the hearts of teenagers and arouse their love for Beijing and China after they develop a deeper appreciation of the city's history and culture.

Zhou Jiawang, Director of the Five Colors Earth Editorial Department of Beijing Evening News and representative of the judging panel, encouraged teenagers to make detailed observations in their daily lives to present future readers with an authentic, multi-dimensional, and vivid Beijing.

Zhou Min, Vice Dean of the Beijing Laoshe Literature Institute and representative of the judging panel, also expressed her encouragement during the ceremony. She believed that young people today, with great passion, unique perspectives, and novel ideas, would definitely create fascinating paintings and articles for the city and tell their "Beijing stories" well.

The "I Love Beijing" collection is open for submissions till the end of July 2023. All submissions will be reviewed by the judging panel, after which the best ones will be included in the collection to be published by Beijing Publishing Group. A series of promotional activities, such as book launches and painting exhibitions, will then be organized during major cultural events, external exchanges, and industry exhibitions throughout the year. The organizers will make concerted efforts to promote the collection and its follow-up activities to effectively convey Beijing's stories and make the voice of China heard, presenting a trustworthy, lovely, and respectable image of China to the world.

(Source: Official WeChat account of the Information Office of Beijing Municipality)