——Huilong Primary School, Yongchuan District, Chongqing City

The first children’s literature campus in China - Huilong Primary School in Yongchuan District, Chongqing City, is located at the political, economic, and cultural center of Yongchuan, adjacent to the offices of the Yongchuan District Committee, the People’s Congress, the District Government, the District Political Consultative Conference, and many ministries and bureaus. It is the first primary school in the new district of Yongchuan. The school covers an area of 52 acres, has 75 teaching classes, more than 4500 students, and 243 teaching and administrative staff. It is a school with a beautiful environment, complete facilities, strong faculty,standardized management, excellent quality, and satisfaction from the community.

 On April 16, 2003, the Chongqing Writers Association held a grand ceremony to name Huilong Primary School as the “Children’s Literature Campus.” Jidi Majia, a member of the Party Group of the China Writers Association, Secretary of the Secretariat, and a famous poet, delivered a congratulatory message on behalf of the China Writers Association. Luo Zhongfu, the then Secretary of the Party Group and Vice Chairman of the Chongqing Writers Association, Huang Jiren, the then Chairman of the Chongqing Writers Association, Ren Geshu, the editor-in-chief of Shanghai “Youth Literature and Art” magazine and a famous children’s literature writer, Zhong Daihua, a member of the China Writers Association, head of the Children’s Literature Campus Expert Group, poet, and children’s literature writer, Tan Xudong, a member of the China Writers Association, a doctoral student in children’s literature at Beijing Normal University, and a young poet, along with more than 30 experts and scholars from Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, attended the conference, marking the beginning of the school’s journey in building its unique characteristics.

 Over the past two decades, the school has adhered to the educational philosophy of “Discovering Children, Igniting Dreams” and the characteristic concept of “Nourishing Childhood with Reading.” It upholds the school motto “Today’s Little Huilong, Tomorrow’s Chinese Dragon,” focusing closely on the construction of children’s literature campus management culture, environmental culture, curriculum culture, and activity culture. It has established a school-based goal system of “One Love, Four Abilities,” a three-level reading curriculum system, and a four-level research system. The school has developed its own textbook “Children’s Literature Reading and Appreciation” and implemented a “star” certification for students, a “three-type” selection for teachers, a “three-type” creation for classes, and a “book fragrance” evaluation for families. With 20 consecutive Reading Festivals and 10 consecutive “Story Moms into the Campus” events, the school has enriched reading practice activities such as “expert guidance, student-student mutual reading, teacher-student joyful reading, and parent-child shared reading,” allowing children to be immersed in the fragrance of books, to enlighten their wisdom, to understand principles, and to strive for goodness and upward mobility.

 Over the past two decades, a series of literary volunteer service activities such as the Yongchuan premiere of “Chongqing Children’s Literature History,” masters and celebrities entering the campus, and the “Hundred Societies, Thousand Schools, Book-Scented Campus” book donation event have helped the school to carry out its activities. Zhu Yongxin, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Executive Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League, and educator, Wang Quangen, the first doctoral supervisor of children’s literature in China, Zhong Daihua, a member of the China Writers Association and Vice Chairman of the Chongqing Writers Association, Yang Peng, a member of the China Writers Association and the first Chinese Disney-signed writer, and famous children’s literature writer and poet Xue Ye have all entered the campus and classrooms, steering the school’s characteristic construction and bringing one feast of children’s literature after another to all teachers and students.

Over the past two decades, the school has closely focused on the construction of a children’s literature campus and has carried out a number of effective research projects. “Establishing a Children’s Literature Campus and Cultivating Children’s Literary Literacy” won the second prize of the Fourth Chongqing Primary and Secondary School Excellent Educational Research Achievements and the first prize of the Yongchuan District People’s Government Science and Technology Progress Award in Soft Science. The mid-term results of “Research on Campus Culture Construction with Children’s Literature as a Feature” won the first prize in the mid-term results selection of the “Research on the Development Strategy of Characteristic Schools in Primary and Secondary Schools” project by the Ministry of Education. Research results such as “In-depth Practice and Exploration of Children’s Literature Reading by Primary School Students” have won the “Second Prize” of scientific research achievements awarded by the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government for four consecutive sessions.

Over the past two decades, the school has undertaken many municipal and district-level “Children’s Literature Reading and Appreciation” on-site experience exchange and demonstration activities, with more than 6,000 visitors from 28 provinces and cities including the United States, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Beijing, and Shanghai. Many media outlets such as “China Education News,” “People’s Education,” and Chongqing TV have publicized and reported on the school’s characteristic education, generating a wide social impact. Zhu Yongxin, then a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and an educator, gladly inscribed the words: “Give the most beautiful things to the most beautiful childhood.”

Over the past two decades, the school has forged ahead through wind and rain on the path of characteristic construction, achieving fruitful results. The school has been successively awarded the honorary title of “Chinese Soul Book House” by the China Care Committee as the first batch in the city and the first in Yongchuan. It has also received national honors such as the Advanced School for Harmonious Campuses, National Graded Reading Demonstration School, National Educational Science Experimental Base, National Primary and Secondary School Information Technology Innovation Application Demonstration School, National Youth Campus Football Characteristic School, Chongqing Civilized Unit, Top Ten Book-Fragrant Campuses in Chongqing, 100 Experimental Schools for Classical Recitation in Chongqing, Chongqing Leading Goose Project Demonstration School, and the first batch of Football Characteristic Schools in Chongqing.

 In the new era, at a new starting point, and embarking on a new journey, the school will closely focus on the development blueprint established in the “Huilong Primary School ‘Fourteenth Five-Year’ Education Development Plan.” It will fully implement the Party’s educational policy, adhere to the socialist direction of running schools, fulfill the fundamental task of cultivating moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic development, deepen the school-running characteristic of “Children’s Literature Reading and Appreciation,” and strive to build the “Dream Ignition Education” brand, aiming to cultivate well-rounded individuals for the new era.