[1] The event was established by the UN Department of Public Information[2] in 2010, seeking "to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization".

April 20 was chosen as the date "to pay tribute to Cangjie, a mythical figure who is presumed to have invented Chinese characters about 5,000 years ago".

[6] Chinese people celebrate Guyu (which usually begins around April 20) in honour of Cangjie, because of a legend that when Cangjie invented Chinese characters, the deities and ghosts cried and it rained millet; the word "Guyu" literally means "rain of millet".

In UN Headquarters in New York, a three-event series organized by UNSRC Chinese Book Club focused on three types of pictographs (Liangzhu inscribed symbols, Dongba script and oracle bone script) associated with three cultures and three UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, Old Town of Lijiang and Yinxu).

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Zhang Jun, delivered a speech at the first event.