Online reading programs to break down isolation

An online reading program "Shanghai Book Fair — Love Reading Love Life" will be launched on Saturday night with local medical workers who had worked or are working in Wuhan sharing their feelings and giving tips on epidemic prevention and control.

The program between 8pm and 9pm every night has seven themes — health, art, family, science, education, travel and bookstore. Each day will have introductory speeches, reviews, classic reading and promotion given by big names in different fields.

There will also be other artistic events such as music appreciation. The program will be available for readers on websites and mobile apps including The Paper, Bilibili, Ximalaya FM and xuexi.cn.

"We hope this program can break the isolation between people during the epidemic outbreak and promote a positive lifestyle through online reading and culture sharing. It can allow residents to enjoy a high-quality and wide variety of cultural services at home," said Xu Jiong, deputy director of the city's publicity department.

"Through cooperation with the press, publishing institutions, online cultural platforms and new media, we can facilitate resource sharing between professional institutions and public online platforms, which will help speed up the transformation, upgrading and innovative development of the publishing industry."

On Saturday, Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious diseases department at Huashan Hospital, will give a speech on health and reading. Some female medics sent to the frontline in Wuhan will provide tips on medical treatment and daily health.

Famous writers, scholars, artists, celebrities and vloggers will share their thoughts during the epidemic as well as recommending books, articles and songs.

The theme for Sunday is art and Tian Yimiao, associate professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, will talk about music with readers online.

On Monday, with family as the theme, the program will invite several writers of children's books to read.

Over the following period, there will be renowned people from various fields to share stories on topics including book collecting, symphonies, craft workers and ancient Chinese poetry.