Federico Roberto Antonelli, president of the EUNIC China Cluster and director of Italian Institute of Culture, gives welcome remarks at the Reading Europe: Books and publications from the EU in Beijing on September 27, 2025. Photo: Hope Tung/GT

EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture), the European network of national-level organizations engaging in international cultural relations, carried on the Reading Europe for the second year in a row in Beijing on September 27. At the Italian Cultural Institute Beijing, readers had the opportunity to read, buy, and even received a series of books and publications for free, and experienced the vibrant cultural charm of the European continent.

On the occasion of the European Day of Language, the EUNIC hosted the second edition of this special event, which brought together 15 cultural centers and offices in the EUNIC network.

In his welcome remarks, Federico Roberto Antonelli, president of the EUNIC China Cluster and director of Italian Institute of Culture, highlighted the diversity in cultures and languages in the European Union and these cultural heritages are celebrated together. 

Each embassy or cultural center showcased books at a dedicated booth.

At the corner of the Delegation of the European Union, readers were offered access to a set of "Dictionary of Misunderstandings."

While across the corridor, at the booth of Romania, the Romanian Cultural Institute in Beijing showcased books titled "Classical Chinese Poetry" and "De la romani la romani. Pledoarie pentru latinitate (or From Romans to Romanians. A plea for Latinity)."

Readers were gifted many magazines in Spanish at the booth of the Instituto Cervantes in Beijing. While at the booth for the Embassy of Ireland in China, a mother and a daughter spotted books on some cities they had recently visited. Readers explored Greek-Chinese bilingual books from mythology and literature to history and art, opening a journey of Greek civilization at the booth for the Embassy of Greece in China. 

At the booth for the Goethe Institute in Beijing, enthusiastic German learners enrolled the next examinations. Some readers picked up seeds for plants at the corner booth of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in China.