Xi: Reading cultivates noble spirit

"My biggest hobby is reading. It has become a lifestyle for me," said President Xi Jinping. "Reading helps keep our mind active, and it inspires us and cultivates the noble spirit."

Books are the vehicle of culture. Reading is an important way to inherit culture. On World Book and Copyright Day, we share with you some stories of Xi Jinping on reading.

It is through books that Xi learned the importance of being loyal to one's country.

"When I was a boy, about five or six years old, my mother took me to buy books. At a bookstore, she bought a picture-story book series titled, The Legend of Yue Fei. One of the volumes illustrates Yue Fei's mother tattooing four characters meaning 'serve the country with the utmost loyalty' across his back.

I said that must hurt so much! Mother replied, yes it did hurt, but Yue Fei kept that in his heart. Since then, the four characters have been embedded in my heart, and it has become my life-time pursuit," Xi said.