Home » Feature » Art and Culture
O Captain, my captain: Book club taking off
Print Edition
NO matter if it rains or snows, long queues formed at Sinan Mansions every Saturday. Some of the mansions are former residences of famous people like Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the founding father of the Chinese Kuomintang, and Zhou Enlai (1898-1976), the first premier of New China, as well as Peking Opera performer Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) and poet Liu Yazi (1887-1958).
Today, trendy cafes, restaurants and boutique shops have rejuvenated the group of Western-style garden houses covering today’s Fuxing Road M., Sinan Road and Jianguo Road.
However, it’s neither the cafes and boutiques nor the historic significance of Sinan that draws people to form such long queues, but rather, a weekly book event and reading club.
“It has grown into something much more than I have expected when it first started,” writer Sun Ganlu, one of the men who founded the event two years ago and its main curator, told Shanghai Daily.
“A metropolis like Shanghai and its residents really deserve a regular cultural event like this,” Sun said.
At first, they worried about the hurdles — the expensive downtown location, and the fact that the event was going to be held once a week.
“Fortunately, with government support and the help from our guest writers and scholars, it has become increasingly more influential and popular.”
The venue has been provided free of charge, and guest speakers have come well-prepared. Some even revise and polish their notes after the speech. Many readers have also come prepared, as if they are back at school — they read materials, take notes, and do homework afterwards.
In a city known for being fast-paced, where media and scholars often call for people to slow down and to read more books, the event’s popularity has surprised many. There’s 200 seats, but in order to secure one, people get there an hour in advance. Many are seen standing or sitting on the ground for the entire session.
The idea for the weekly event came up after participants of the international week at the annual Shanghai Book Fair said that discussing books once a year wasn’t enough.
Since then, 107 events have been organized, with more than 300 guest speakers, including novelists like Wang Anyi and Dany Laferriere and Nobel prize jury member Kjell Espmark.
“In this digital era, many things can be substituted. You can buy books online rather than go to a concrete book shop, you can have video conference rather than actually getting together in one spot, but still, I believe the face-to-face communication between people is unique,” Sun explains.
“To listen to and even discuss with the writers, translators and scholars who wrote the book, face to face, will change your entire reading experience afterwards. It will also encourage many people to read more.”
Newly published books are often the focus of the event, and readers include children as well as retirees in their 80s.
“Here, you have a great ‘subject,’ and a quality ‘specialist,’ all you need is to empty your mind, pay attention and learn. What’s not to treasure about such a great opportunity?” said 67-year-old Xu Shujian, a loyal participant of the event, who edits his notes and shares them with around 1,000 people in his reading group.
“I feel it makes up for my regret of not having been to university.”
Sometimes, the events match current affairs.
Last week, the topic was Italian novelist and semiotician Umberto Eco, who passed away recently. Guest speakers included Shen Emei, a professor of Italian from Beijing Foreign Studies University and translator of Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” as well as the book’s publisher.
Around the time of the Lantern Festival, Chen Shangjun, a professor from Fudan University and expert in Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) poetry re-constructed how people in Tang celebrated the festivals through poems from the time. Chen, who compiled the anthology of Tang poetry, introduced the customs of the time, such as how much time people got off work, what kind of presents government officials received from the royal court, and, intriguingly, why men from that time used lipstick.
“We have all recited Tang poems when we were little, but I have never imagined you can understand and talk about these poems from such an angle,” said 31-year-old Viktor Xu, whose favorite events are those focusing on Chinese classics.
“It has become an occasion for my friends to get together. We often go to nearby restaurants for dinner afterwards. And I have also met some new friends here. After all, if you are sitting here for the same subject, at least you have something to start a meaningful conversation with rather than ‘hello’ or ‘it’s a nice day’.”
He is not the only one interested in Chinese classics. Sun plans to start additional events on Chinese literature, due to popular demand.
“It is a good platform to help us remember and understand traditions,” Sun said. “Reading helps us to carry on traditions, leads us to understand contemporary society and calls on us to imagine the future.”
As deputy chairman of Shanghai Writers’ Association, he is also keen on promoting young writers and giving them the opportunity to talk to the readers directly, “so that young writers with great potential can be well received and will be encouraged by such sessions.”
After two years and more than 100 events, Sun finds it increasingly difficult to plan the next one, but the efforts are well worth it. “There were no such events in my time,” Sun, who is in his 60s and has lived through the “cultural revolution” (1966-1976), said.
“The key for curating these events is quality. We find books with cultural value and experts in the respective area. So the best scholar instructs you on how to explore this area, or the writer of the book tells you what’s behind the story. These are rare opportunities.”
He adds, “Just imagine a teenager who comes here every time, and goes back for extensive reading in his area of interest. After these two years, how knowledgeable, inquisitive and intriguing would he have become.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
