On 1 January 2001, Wenjin Forum was opened in the NLC Branch Library, near the picturesque Beihai Park, while 9 years later, the 500th Session of Wenjin Forum was held on 1 January 2010. As non-profitable lecture series of the NLC, Wenjin Forum, based on the abundant collections, has remained committed to the tradition of deploying cultural education. With providing services for the public as the tenet, and adhering to the lectures' principles, Wenjin Forum has invited many well-known scholars within and outside Beijing to make lectures, providing a good learning environment for the readers, so Wenjin Forum becomes a new area of carrying forward Chinese traditional culture, promoting civil reading and developing a learning society.

In order to display the achievements of Wenjin Forum in the past 9 years and express great gratitude to the lecturers and readers, the NLC especially held "The Symposium in Memory of 500 Sessions of Wenjin Forum & the Opening Ceremony of Exhibition on Wenjin Forum Achievements" on 13 January 2010. Zhou Heping, vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and director of the NLC, Liu Xiaoqin, inspector of the Department of Community Culture, the Ministry of Culture, Zhan Furui, secretary of the CPC Committee of the NLC and executive deputy director of the NLC, part of the lecturers of Wenjin Forum, reader representatives and NLC staff representatives attended the event, which was hosted by Zhang Zhiqing, NLC deputy director.

In the opening ceremony, Zhou Heping made an important speech, Liu Xiaoqin, Zhan Furui, lecturer representative and reader representative delivered a speech respectively, and then they cut the ribbons for the exhibition. In the speeches, the speakers reviewed the progress of Wenjin Forum in the past 9 years, and affirmed the achievements in terms of socialism culture development of the country, development of the NLC, the foundation and growth of Wenjin Forum. Besides, Zhou Heping issued letter of appointment to the Wenjin Forum Distinguished Professor in the opening ceremony.

In the following symposium in memory of the 500 sessions of Wenjin Forum, the delegates spoke out freely, reviewing the past history and achievements, and looking forward to the future. Finally, the symposium achieved a great success with fruitful results.

The NLC lecture series was an important window of social education and cultural dissemination. In the past 9 years, Wenjin Forum acquired great support of Party and state leaders and leaders at all levels. When inspecting the NLC in 2009, Premier Wen Jiabao and member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Changchun advocated that the NLC should hold various lectures so as to improve the society civilization level and the civil civilization. The leaders of the Ministry of Culture and the NLC also paid great attention to Wenjin Forum, giving great support for the development of Wenjin Forum. Besides, it was worth mentioned that the development of Wenjin Forum was closely related with the efforts and contributions of the late NLC honorary director Ren Jiyu.

Up to now, Wenjin Forum has invited more than 300 experts and scholars to give lectures, including Ren Jiyu, Qi Gong, Zhu Jiajin, and so on, and the audience has amounted to 70,000 person-times. The contents covered history, philosophy, literature, politics, economics, sciences, architecture, law, education, etc. The published series Wenjin Lectures has selected part of the lectures, and has amounted to 7 volumes. Generally, Wenjin Forum holds at least 50 lectures yearly. More and more video lectures will be provided online in the website of the NLC and National Cultural Information Resources Sharing Project for free access.

Up to present, the NLC has held various non-profitable lecture series for the public, such as Chinese Classics & Culture, NLC Forum of World Library Directors, Artist Forum, Educationalist Forum, Scientist Forum, Enterpriser Forum, Wenjin Reading Solon, etc., building a bridge for the communication between the experts and the public.

As a famous cultural brand, Wenjin Forum held its first lecture in the outside of Beijing on 16 December 2009, namely Wenjin-Zhujiang Forum, sponsored by the NLC and Guangzhou Daily Press Group. Xiao Tian, deputy director of General Administration of Sport of China, vice president of Chinese Olympic Committee, and vice president of Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee, made the first lecture in Wenjin-Zhujiang Forum. Wenjin-Zhujiang Forum, with Guangzhou as its centre, would become a classical cultural brand, promoting the development of cultural and academic activities in South China.

Wenjin Forum has acquired great achievements in the past 500 sessions in its 9-year history, and it will certanily create greater glories in the next 500 sessions in the future 10 years.