Time flies. We bid farewell to 2020, full of ups and downs, and ushered in 2021, abounding with hope. At this turn of the year, on behalf of Guangxi Normal University Press Group, I wish to express my heartfelt thanks and high respect 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, and to extend my sincere greetings and wishes to all our hard-working colleagues at home and abroad!

2020 is an extraordinary year. The sudden COVID-19 epidemic has swept the world, and it has not subsided yet. The CCCPC with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core insisted on putting people and life above everything else, adopted resolute and decisive epidemic prevention measures, and won major strategic achievements in the national anti-epidemic struggle. The Chinese economy took the lead in delivering positive growth, and made decisive achievements in the three critical battles.

This year, while strictly implementing the epidemic prevention and control measures, we made every effort to resume work and production. With joint efforts of the Group and all employees, the Group nurtured new opportunities in the crisis, opened a new situation in the changing situation, and overcame the serious adverse effects brought by the epidemic. The main publishing industry remained stable with diversified development. A small increase in profits was achieved under the condition that the number of published books decreased by 10% year-on-year. This hard-won achievement is attributed to the joint efforts of all colleagues. Here, on behalf of the Party Committee and the leading group of the Group, I would like to extend my deep gratitude to all employees!

This year, we sweated and we toiled as we pressed ahead with concrete efforts for achievements. The Party Committee of the Group resolutely implemented the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the CPC and the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 19th CCCPC, comprehensively upheld and strengthened the leadership of the Party, took the deep integration of party building and business as the starting point, strengthened the construction of talent team, and continuously consolidated the grassroots party building work. The Group adhered to the general tone of pursuing stable performance and making new progress, implemented the new development concept, continuously advanced the development strategy of "focusing on the main business, deepening education, improving academic capability, and extending development", continuously deepened the modernization of the Group's governance system and governance capacity, and continuously formed a clean and positive political ecology of enterprises.

This year, our publishing work developed steadily in the process of adjustment. The quality of books in the education sector continued to improve, and new achievements were made in deepening education service; academic publishing strength and brand influence reached a new level, for seven consecutive years, it had been selected as one of the top 20 overseas collections of Chinese books. In the total citation frequency of publish books, our publications in the whole discipline ranked tenth in all university presses, our application and construction of the second project of the National Publishing House had been continuously strengthened, fifteen projects were selected as national books and periodicals, and new progress was made in the brand building of periodicals. Curiosity Encyclopedia was selected into Catalogue of Excellent Popular Science Periodicals in China, the theme publication of Collection of Excellent Compositions selected for the 2020 China Excellent Periodical Exhibition was accelerated, and the Beijing Theme Publishing Center was established. A number of high-quality theme publications reflecting the lofty beliefs of the Communists and the spirit of poverty alleviation and difficulties tackling were planned and published, such as Initial Heart and 100 Typical Cases of Poverty-alleviation Households Striving for A Relatively Well-off Life in Guangxi.

In this year, the Group promoted the integrated development ,improving its quality and performance, and opened up a new situation in online marketing. “Bookstore Lighting Plan" and "Cheer Up, Bookstores" led the new trend of integration of social stores; accompanying readers through the most difficult time during the epidemic, "Guishiyun" and other digital platforms helped teachers and students in Guangxi to carry out on-line classes during the epidemic. At the 7th National Book Industry Marketing Practice Matchmaking Meeting, the Group won seven awards, such as "Marketing Gold Case", and the Duxiu Bookstores was awarded as "National Family Parent-child Reading Experience Base" and "Cultural Industry Demonstration Base of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region". The integration of culture and technology continued to deepen, and the majority of printing companies were recognized as national high-tech enterprises.

In this year, the Group consciously shouldered the social responsibilities of state-owned enterprises, and vigorously promoted poverty alleviation and the construction of scholarly campus. Poverty-alleviation villages helped by counterparts got rid of poverty smoothly, the Group was commended by the school for opening a new "Duxiu Class" in Jinxiu Middle School for Nationalities, 17 "Rural Bookstores" jointly established by the Cultural Development Foundation of the Group of Supporting Poor Students to Achieve Their Dream of Studying and Guilin Bank were officially opened, and the three-year action of "Encouraging Library" was successfully completed. The books worth of 3 million yuan were donated to participate in the establishment of a national civilized city and a national civilized campus, and a double harvest was achieved.

Journey of a thousand miles begins with single step! During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China will enter a new stage of development. Looking back at the past 2020 at this important historical intersection, we have withstood the test of COVID-19 epidemic, tempered our team, honed our fighting spirit and strengthened our confidence.

Looking forward to 2021, on the new journey of building socialist modernization in an all-round way, the Group will focus on high-quality development and plan the layout, strive to create a new development pattern of the Group, and resolutely achieve the goal of stable and far-reaching development. Let's gather together, make pragmatic and persistent efforts, explore and innovate, and contribute new strength to building a better enterprise and realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!

Finally, I sincerely wish you all good health, success, happiness, and all the best in the new year!

Guangxi Normal University Press Group Co., Ltd

HUANG Xuanzhuang
Party Secretary and Chairman

January 1st, 2021.