IC claims pandemic led to more reading

The Covid-19 pandemic led to more reading  in Macau, the president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Deland Leong, said yesterday.

Leong and other members of the Cultural Development Consultative Committee were speaking in a media briefing after yesterday’s Committee plenary meeting.

“The pandemic has contributed to the increase of the number of books borrowed from the local libraries,” Leong said.

“Many people kept this habit and the number of books lent by the public libraries is now higher than before the pandemic.”

The same official said new reader accounts with public libraries had grown significantly, although he did not specify a number.

Committee member Ieng Weng Fat said the changed reading habits were discussed at yesterday’s meeting with these results to be presented to committee members.

Ieng said the “increase in the knowledge of readers in different topics” is more important than the increased number of readers, as is the general public interest for reading and writing.

In another example of developments brought by the pandemic, Ieng said the IC’s annual story-writing competition had received about 1,200 stories last year while this year’s has already received 1,700.

He said this is not the final figure because writers are still submitting stories.

Ieng said many local students participate in this type of competition after gaining an interest in reading. There then “followed a growing interest for producing original written content.”

To continue its promotion of reading, the IC will this year present a series of activities celebrating UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day (April 23).

Leong said the most important event will be a reading activity that will last for 30 minutes in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

For the reading activity, the IC will invite students from local schools to come to the reading site (the Ruins of St. Paul’s) to read “selected articles together.”

Another activity is Macau Library Week where people will be invited to book exchanges, book sales and workshops.

Leong said that last year about 16,000 people participated in this event, but this year 43,000 are expected.

Book Vending Machines in local schools

To further expand reading habits, the IC president said the bureau is also collaborating with the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) to install “Book Vending Machines” at local schools.

The automated machines will allow students to borrow and return books at school without needing to travel to public libraries.

Leong said DSEDJ is working with schools both to understand what new books or types of books are suited to this program and to increase public libraries’ collections.

Macao Art Festivals to ‘continue on the same path’

The 34th Macao Arts Festival, to be unveiled today, was also part of yesterday’s agenda of the Cultural Development Consultative Committee.

In the press briefing after the meeting, the president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Deland Leong, said the festival will continue “on the same path” as the previous events.

Themed “Adventure,” the festival will this year present 19 programs and 23 extended activities covering a wide range of cultural performances from music to drama, film and television as well as other arts.

Leong told the press briefing this year’s program will invite performing groups from the UK, Italy, France and Australia, among others.

Leong said having a “family-oriented” program has always been an important element of the festival.

“We see that frequently parents take their children to shows and performances. We propose many of those [performances] that are not dependent on language and that are very visual and gestural so they can cater to all audiences.”

Leong noted the festival’s purpose is one of “keeping the traditions,” which also come in the form of Chinese Opera and Patuá Theatre performances.

Leong also said one of the festival’s main purposes, besides featuring foreign groups, is to promote local groups. This purpose has been pursued for several years and continues to influence the festival’s programs.

The full program, as well as ticketing details, will be unveiled this afternoon (March 13). RM