New book unveiled to highlight family values

A new book focusing on family values was unveiled in Beijing on Thursday amid President Xi Jinping highlighting the importance of the family in cultivating socialism’s core values.

The book, Liang Di Shu, or Letters From Two Places, is a collection of nearly 200 letters from family members, such as from a son to a father or a husband to a wife, and more than 100 family stories. The book's launch ceremony was held at Renmin University of China on Thursday morning.

Through these letters, the book shows the significance of family values in the process of practicing socialism’s core values and the passing on of traditional culture from generation to generation.

The launch ceremony was attended by more than 30 representatives, including He Yaomin, vice-president of Renmin University of China, Tian Xueli, deputy Party chief of the Liaoning Daily and Zhang Hong, deputy editor-in-chief of the Liaoning People's Publishing House.

To advocate the importance of family values, the Liaoning Daily and the Family Letter Museum of Renmin University of China have worked together to collect family letters over the past year.

He Yaomin, vice-president of Renmin University of China, said at the ceremony that President Xi Jinping has highlighted the significance of family values in cultivating socialism’s core values.

To implement Xi's important instructions on family values, Renmin University has established the country's first museum of family letters, he said, adding that the museum has played an important role in promoting positive family values.

Tian Xueli, deputy Party secretary of the Liaoning Daily, said that as a Party-run newspaper, it has shouldered its responsibility in promoting traditional Chinese culture, including family values.

"General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that no matter how the times change, we should always respect family values," he said.

Reporters of the Liaoning Daily have traveled across the country to cover the stories told in family letters and completed 111 special pages of reports, he added.

While meeting with representatives to the First National Conference of Model Families on Dec 12, 2016, Xi said that values should be promoted among all families to nurture healthy social conduct.

"When I was a child, my mother gave me a picture-story book series - The Legend of Yue Fei. One of its more than 10 volumes illustrated Yue Fei's mother tattooing four characters meaning 'Serve the country with the utmost loyalty' across his back. The story deeply impressed me," Xi said in his speech.