CMGE Builds Dream Libraries for 10 Consecutive Years, 15th Lands in Rongshui, Guangxi
Every back-to-school season, CMGE sets out along the scent of books, keeping a long-standing promise to the children.
On September 10, Teachers' Day, CMGE joined hands with the "Library Project" special fund of the Wuxi Lingshan Charity Foundation and visited Baiyunkou Primary School in Rongshui County, Guangxi, to build the 15th "CMGE Dream Library," delivering 1,200 age-appropriate books and a batch of teaching supplies to all 430 students of the school.
Since 2017, this promise — to accompany the growth of rural children through reading — has spanned ten years.
1,200 New Books Arrive at Baiyunkou Primary School, Improving Reading Conditions for 430 Students
Baiyunkou Primary School serves 8 village committees and 25 natural villages nearby. It currently has 430 students in 12 classes, 190 of whom come from families lifted out of poverty. For many children, school is not just a place for lessons — it is where they spend the longest hours of their day and stay closest to books beyond their textbooks.
Most of the school's original books came from a charitable donation in 2017. Nearly a decade on, some have worn out and grown dated; only about 500 books are now suitable for the children — roughly one per student.
The books were too few, and too old. Yet the children's hands never stopped turning pages.
The 1,200 books CMGE delivered cover picture books, pinyin readers, bridge books and more, meeting the reading needs of students of different ages. Along with the books came 6 tables, 36 chairs, 6 bookshelves, 1 globe and 6 science experiment kits.
Reaching the campus, these books and supplies must travel no short distance. The school lies about 80 kilometers from the county seat and some 7 kilometers from the township courier station. Two unremarkable numbers on the map — yet they mean that every book and every item must make an arduous journey to arrive.
As soon as the new books arrived, children quickly gathered around the shelves to leaf through them. At noon that day, teachers told the volunteers that some children who seldom read on their own initiative joyfully picked up the new books and began to read. A vividly colored picture book or a science story never read before could become a new starting point on their journey into reading.
The science experiment kits were equally popular. Many children showed keen interest in the hands-on materials and began browsing science books on their own. Experiment materials and popular-science readers complement each other, turning knowledge on the page into a chance to observe and to try — answering children's curiosity about the unknown world.
With new shelves, tables and chairs in the reading room, children can now walk up to the shelves, sit down, and carefully pick out the books they love. They are already full of anticipation for this new reading room.
10 Years, 15 Libraries: CMGE Turns Reading from Arrival into Companionship
To ease the stiffness of a first meeting, the donation team led volunteers and students in ice-breaking games. Afterwards, volunteers joined the children in STEAM activities blending science, technology, engineering, art and math — observing, thinking and searching for answers through hands-on practice.
During free reading, children drifted to the shelves following their own interests. Some clutched picture books and refused to put them down; some flipped through a science book twice, pointing to a sentence and asking a volunteer to read it aloud. The volunteers stayed by their side, listening as they shared why they chose the book and what they liked most inside it.
After reading, the children wrote postcards on the theme "Why I Like This Book". Facing the blank cards, some did not yet know how to express themselves in words; after thinking for a long while, they earnestly drew a picture instead.
For children, both words and drawings are ways to express what reading brings. The picture carried few words, yet it preserved the most direct response of a child who had just finished a book. From opening the pages to speaking or drawing out their feelings, in this reading session the child opened not only a book, but also a window to self-expression.
Principal Wei Junming of Baiyunkou Primary School said in his speech that the donation replenished the school's quality reading resources, improved the children's reading environment, and built a bridge of knowledge to a wider world. The school will cherish and make good use of the reading room, regularly hold reading lessons and book activities, and weave reading into everyday campus life.
The value of a reading room shows not only on the day it is completed, but in every opening afterwards and every moment a book is turned. Through training on reading-room management, the school will ensure that these books remain in continuous use.
Over the past decade, the "CMGE Dream Library" has traveled from its first stop in 2017 to this year's 15th — Baiyunkou Primary School in Rongshui, Guangxi. The program has previously reached Yunan (Guangdong), Zhengding (Hebei), Meihekou (Jilin), Yangchun (Guangdong), Jishan (Shanxi), Pingxiang (Jiangxi), Lu'an (Anhui), Enshi (Hubei), Jiyuan (Henan), Heyuan (Guangdong), Jizhou (Tianjin), Ji'an (Jiangxi), Xiangxi (Hunan) and Nanping (Fujian).
Beyond building libraries, CMGE has gradually extended its charitable support into reading, digital learning and mental health through computer donations, teacher training and more.
Over ten years, what changed is reading room after reading room in rural schools; what stayed unchanged is the original aspiration — to accompany the growth of rural children through reading. And when children open their books, those pairs of focused eyes give this perseverance its most heartfelt echo.