Book-sharing scheme for Metro riders not flying off the shelves
Print Edition
AN attempt to introduce a book-sharing scheme on the city’s Metro, similar to successful programs overseas, has run into immediate trouble — disinterest from commuters and disapproval from rail authorities.
Modelled on the UK’s popular Books on the Underground, China’s MoBook has distributed 10,000 books on trains, planes and car-pooling services in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
While it was a big hit on WeChat and other social media after it launched, the reality has been different. And some are concerned the books will simply end up in recycling bins.
Pictures of discarded books have already gone viral online, and there were comments saying passengers have ignored the books by sitting on top of them.
The city’s Metro authorities do not like the campaign.
Distributing promotional items is not allowed on the city’s Metro and all items left in a train will be cleared when it arrives at its terminal station, according to regulations.
“We received three copies of books last night,” Qin Weiming, director of Hangzhong Road Station on Line 10 told Shanghai Television Station. “Today we received another 11 copies of the books.” Qin said the books were handed to Metro staff and would be kept at the station temporarily.
The city’s Metro operator told Shanghai Daily that it would be inappropriate to drop books in crowded carriages during peak hours because it might affect other commuters, adding the Metro had previously organized its own events to promote reading by posting book excerpts and handing out free books at station service centers.
Every copy involved in the MoBook campaign has a yellow sticker on the cover and the organizers encourage finders to scan QR code to follow the company’s official WeChat account.
The idea is to find a book, read it and place it on another train for another reader.
But the early reaction from commuters indicates it might be hard to tear them away from their mobile phones.
“I heard of the campaign online, but feel it sounds a little silly,” a local resident, surnamed Han, told Shanghai Daily. “When I’m on my way to work, all I can see are people. Where is the space to read book in a crowded carriage?”
She also admitted that after a hard day at work, she prefers playing mobile games or reading digital books on her mobile phone to reading a real book.
Another commuter, Ricas Liu, is also not a fan of the idea. Liuis a writer himself.
“MoBook is more like a one-time event merely for grabbing attention and people’s interest will soon disappear once the fever has gone,” he said.
“To really promote reading, it would be better to set up mobile libraries in Metro stations, allowing commuters to borrow and return books in the stations.”
MoBook’s organizer is a content provider on WeChat called Xinshixiang.
“The event is a marketing idea, but it does not mean we could not or should not do it,” Zhang Wei, the company’s founder, told the television station.
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