From left: Senior broadcasters Lei Peng, Hai Xia, Kang Hui, Yu Fang, Fang Ming, Xiao Yu, Fu Chengli and Mi Yaniu read aloud a poem by Chinese poet Shu Ting.[Photo by Shou Yiren/For China Daily]
Meanwhile, experts from the broadcasting and Chinese language teaching fields have gone over every one of the files to check them for accuracy.
The Chinese Textbooks-Reading Library for elementary and middle school students, jointly launched by the China Media Group and Ministry of Education, aims to help Chinese children with their Mandarin.
Ya Kun, 76, a renowned broadcaster, says that the project will not only benefit students and teachers, but will also be helpful to those who want to improve their Mandarin.
The first batch of audio files will include excerpts from The Analects of Confucius, well-known pieces by Lu Xun, a leading figure in modern Chinese literature, and Western fairy tales such as The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen.
Yu Fang, 65, a participating broadcaster, says they read the texts for children so that they will be able to understand them at once.
"For us broadcasters, it is the expression of feelings rather than the pronunciation that we hope the children will get," says Yu.
At the launch of the audio project, Fang Ming, 77, a broadcaster, read The Sight of Father's Back, a famous prose piece by Chinese author Zhu Ziqing, in which Zhu recalls his father sending him on a train from home to Beijing.
In the piece, there is a description of Zhu's father crossing the railway tracks just to buy some oranges for him. Listening to Fang reading the passage is a moving experience.
