One for the books: entrepreneur wants every Hong Kong child to know the joy of reading
James Chen Yue Jia wants to get youngsters reading for fun through his Bring Me a Book foundation, but he laments a lack of quality material and says the city’s busy parents must set a good example
When philanthropist and entrepreneur James Chen Yue Jia visited a school library in his hometown of Qidong in Jiangsu province, he was surprised to find empty shelves and very few children’s books.
“This was something strange to me,” said Chen, whose family made grants to stock the library with books chosen by teachers, students and parents.
The library project eventually inspired the founding of the Chen Yet-sen Family Foundation with a focus on early childhood literacy and library development, which in turn led to the establishment of a non-profit organisation called Bring Me a Book, which is the Hong Kong arm of the international organisation that goes by the same name.
Co-founded by Chen a decade ago, it serves children who lack access to quality books. Since its launch, the foundation has set up over 350 libraries, helped 130,000 children and trained 22,000 teachers and parents in childhood literacy.
According to a 2011 study by Boston College in the United States, Hong Kong had the lowest rate of family literacy – which refers to parents and children learning together – in the world, with only 12 per cent of parents participating in preschool literacy activities. The international average was 37 per cent.
Earlier this year, the government also revealed that the number of visits to the city’s district libraries declined 3 per cent between 2012 and 2014. Last month, popular bookstore chain Page One closed as a result of high rental costs and fierce competition from online sales.
