Time flies. We bid farewell to 2021, a year of hard work and progress, and are heading towards 2022, a year full of hope. At this turn of the year, on behalf of Guangxi Normal University Press Group, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the leaders at all levels, authors, readers and people from all walks of life who have long cared for, supported and helped the development of the Group. I also wish to extend my sincere greetings to all our hard-working colleagues at home and abroad!

2021 was a milestone in the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and our country. The Chinese people celebrated the Centennial birthday of the Communist Party of China and made historic achievements in building a moderately well-off society in an all-round way. 2021 was also a year of great significance in the history of Guangxi Normal University Press, and we ushered in the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Press. In the past thirty-five years, group after group of publishers of Guangxi Normal University have worked hard to build the Press from an unknown local university press located in the border to an international cultural institution with good influence and reputation at home and abroad, realizing a historic leap. In the face of profound changes unseen in a century, standing at the historical intersection of achieving the Two Centenary Goals, the press staff are embarking on a new journey of high-quality development in the new era with high morale and full confidence.

In the past year, under constant influence of the COVID-19 epidemic, the road to global economic recovery has been rough. Although the domestic economy has gradually come out of the trough, the external environment has become increasingly grim, and the downward pressure on the economy has been increasing under a complex and volatile international situation. Under the influence of the economic environment, the publishing industry has experienced slow growth and sluggish recovery, and the impact of the national "double reduction" policy on traditional educational publishing has gradually emerged. At the same time, new technologies such as Internet of Things, blockchain, big data and artificial intelligence have enabled new possibilities for innovation and development in the publishing industry, and the transformation and upgrading of the publishing industry are imminent. Facing the grim situation, we worked hard with firm confidence and composure, and achieved good social and economic benefits.

In 2021, we adhered to the general principle of making progress while maintaining stability. While maintaining regular epidemic prevention and control, we concentrated our efforts on promoting reform and development. We have achieved remarkable results in self-innovation and taken a steady and robust pace of development. The Group's Party Committee focused on drawing wisdom and strength from the great journey of the Party's century-long struggle and summing up experience and lessons from the Press's 35 years of development. Adhering to the guidance of Party building, it comprehensively enhanced the Party's leadership, made new progress in Party organization building, and made new strides in the deep integration of Party building and business. The Party building brand of "book pioneer" featuring "Party building + books" has been promoted in depth. The vitality of grassroots Party organizations has been strengthened. The vanguard role of Party members has become more prominent. The role of Party branches as battle fortresses has become increasingly prominent. With the consciousness of facing the problems and the courage of internal self-regulation, the Group has made great efforts to rectify the "chronic problems". We have effectively broken through the "blockage points" and "pain points", promoted the modernization of corporate governance system and governance capacity to a new level, and achieved staged victories in consolidating the foundation, and also significantly improved our ability to prevent and resolve major risks. In the grim situation, we have forged ahead in the face of difficulties. Under the strong leadership of the University’s Party Committee, with the joint efforts of the Group's leadership team and all staff, we have achieved the set targets of 6% increase in annual fixed price and 8% increase in profit. The Group has maintained steady and rapid development, which was not easy to come by but the result of joint efforts of all staff. Here, on behalf of the Group's Party Committee and leadership team, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all staff!

In 2021, we adhered to the strategic policy of "focusing on the main business, deepening education, improving academic capability, and extending development" and the development strategy of "something should be done, and something should not", and achieved fruitful results in promoting the high-quality development of our main publishing business. We won a good many of prizes in the Fifth Government Publishing Award. The Catalogue of the Cover of Old Textbooks in China won the Printing Reproduction Award, which was the first breakthrough of Guangxi's publishing and printing industry in this award; the Collection of Rare Ming Poems Collected in Japan and the Compilation of Chinese Translation of Manchu Archives in Xinjiang in Qing Dynasty were both nominated for the Book Award, making Guangxi Normal University Press rank among the top 10 publishers in China in terms of the total number of won book awards in the previous China Publishing Government Awards. The quality of our educational publishing was further improved, with many new national and local characteristics. The textbook Red Culture of Guangxi was fully introduced into the primary and secondary schools. The Zhuang- Chinese Bilingual Early Childhood Curriculum Resources was published as the first of its kind in China. The teaching material Zhuang Language for primary and secondary schools was featured by various highlights. We made great progress in the construction of vocational education teaching materials, achieving significant increase in the market sales and the usage in schools. Our academic publishing strength and brand influence remained at a high level. We had nine projects selected into the special publication planning project for national key publications during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and the Group was selected as one of the top 20 for influence of overseas collection of Chinese books for eight consecutive years. We made another great achievement in the selection for the "Top 10 Good Books of the Year" in Shenzhen Reading Month, with eight books listed in the top 100 books, including one book in "Top 10 Good Books of the Year" and one book in the "Top 10 Children’s Books of the Year". The Group's Theory of Modernization of National Governance System and Governance Capacity was selected as a project funded by the National Publication Fund, and Media Criticism was newly included in the CSSCI collection. We also made new achievements in thematic publishing, and successfully held the first "Wangdao Publishing Forum", which aroused great attention from the society and won unanimous praise from the academia and the publishing industry. We published a series of excellent thematic books such as Collection of Historical Documents on Xiangjiang Campaign, contributing to the continuation of the communist legacy and the inheritance of the communist gene. We made new progress in the journal section. The View on Publishing and the Planners continued to be selected as Chinese core journals and were included in CSSCI extended edition catalogue; the Collection of Excellent Compositions was selected as a key topic of "Youth Periodicals on Party History" theme propaganda by the Bureau of Publication of Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China; and three journals, including Education Guide, were awarded the ninth Outstanding Journals of Guangxi.

In 2021, we took new steps in integrated development by adhering to the development path of "publishing + culture + technology". "The Dunhuang Documents Database" received special support from the National Digitalization Project of Ancient Books in 2021. The "Xiaoshutong" online audio reading platform was selected into the 2021 Publishing Integrated Development Project of the National Press and Publication Administration. The "Book Paradise —— a new reading ecosystem operated based on web traffic" and "Children's Periodicals Immersive Interactive Content Creation" were selected as innovation cases of deep integrated development of national press and publishing. The integrated development model of "publishing + culture + technology" became increasingly mature, and a new publishing system with knowledge service as the goal and digital information as the carrier took shape at a faster pace.

In 2021, we continued promoting mutual development of the domestic and international circles of publishing business, and made new breakthroughs in letting the publishing business "going global". For the fourth time, the Group was awarded the title of "National Key Cultural Export Enterprise" jointly by five ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Commerce and the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Meanwhile, a cooperative publishing project of Macao Branch of the Group was selected as "National Key Cultural Export Project". "Art Bridge Space", the first aesthetic composite physical bookstore, was settled in Shanghai as the international art communication brand "Art Bridge" bloomed again. The national reading brand "Duxiu Bookstore” went global as the first overseas store of "Duxiu Bookstore" was built at Confucius Institute at Hanoi University in Vietnam, contributing to the construction of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

In 2021, we adhered to the goal of "corporative development and employee happiness" and made new achievements in building a "happy corporation". We improved the Group's information disclosure system, disclosing important information on corporate development to the employees in a timely manner according to laws and regulations to protect their right to know; organized the implementation of the measure of "Celebrating the New Year Where You Are" during the Spring Festival holiday in 2021, and provided living subsidies for such employees; established a training system for employees as an institutional foundation for their vocational development; bought medical mutual insurance for employees, which further guarantees employees' health. Dinner was added in the canteen, flexible work was implemented, and a "home for employees" was built... bit by bit, which enhanced employees' sense of acquisition, happiness and security.

In 2021, we continued giving back to the society and took new responsibilities in fulfilling the social responsibilities as a state-owned cultural corporation. We successfully held Guilin "Red Research-Study" activity for "Duxiu Class” of Jinxiu Middle School for Nationalities to help rural revitalization with educational assistance; the projects of "Encouraging Library" and "Rural Bookstore” have been expanded in depth, and the "cultural granary" for national reading campaign and rural revitalization has been continuously enriched to donate money and materials to Henan and other disaster-affected areas, fully demonstrating the spirit of solidarity and mutual assistance called  "one party is in trouble and all parties support”.

"We still have a long journey to go, which is fraught with difficulties and requires more efforts". The 35-year-old Guangxi Normal University Press, in its prime, has packed up and set foot on a new journey with its head held high. Looking into 2022, we will stay true to the original aspiration of "publishing good books for the people" and adhere to the objective of "letting people and books meet", increase our confidence in history, and enhance unity & solidarity and struggling spirit. We will fully implement the new development philosophy, build a new pattern of corporate development, concentrate on promoting the high-quality development of the Group, and continue to write a more brilliant new chapter in the great journey of achieving the centenary goal!

Finally, I sincerely wish you all good health, successful career, happy life, and all the best in New Year!

Guangxi Normal University Press Group Co., Ltd

HUANG Xuanzhuang
Party Secretary and Chairman

January 1st, 2022