Book scheme finding places to roost in many Chinese cities
Print Edition
WITH a wooden bird house filled with books on the back of his bike, Yan Defeng cycles around Zhengzhou in central China’s Henan Province, eager to find a home for another “Bird’s Nest” library.
The 36-year-old is spreading his joy of reading by distributing book-filled bird houses as part of a “Bird’s Nest” library program inspired by a US project that is quickly migrating across Chinese cities. The book exchange scheme allows participants to take a book and replace it with one of their own.
So far, Yan has created three such libraries, with two already adopted by volunteers.
He also operates his own library, which he began on November 1. Every morning he travels to a local bus stop and places the bird house in plain sight. In the evening, he checks how many books have been exchanged.
“In the first week, all the books remained,” said Yan. “Then, some people began to take away books and others put books in.”
In the past month, 18 books have been exchanged but only three of the originals are left. Titles range from literary classics to children’s books.
“It is worthy to exchange a different book with one a person has read,” said Li Meng, a woman in her 30s.
“The library is small, but each book has its own value.”
Similar libraries have emerged in cities such as Xiamen, Nanjing and Zhenjiang.
At a residential community in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, a “Bird’s Nest” library now has books exchanged every day. It was set up in July by Wang Jia, Communist Party chief of the community.
Instead of letting hundreds of books in the community library “lay sleeping,” it is a good idea to put the books near the houses of residents, said Wang.
Five more liberaries were installed in the community in September.
The first “Bird Nest” library appeared in Jiangsu’s Wuxi in January this year.
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