Human Library gets people talking (2)

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The library has no fixed location, nor does it open every day. Instead, it arranges for readers to meet their "books" on the last Saturday of each month.

On Oct. 26, dozens of readers met seven living books at a cafe. Most of them got the message about the books through the library's microblog and registered in advance.

The living books included a funeral business practitioner, a part-time DIY musician, a travel buff with profound knowledge on how to use guidebooks and the parents of an autistic child.

Zhang Na shared the story of her family's decade with her son's autism.

Diagnosed in 1998, when her son was only three, Zhang had to study the condition and work out training methods all by herself. At that time, China lacked advanced autism therapy. Zhang's painstaking efforts greatly improved her son's condition and, hoping to help other families with similar problems, she founded a school in 2003 to offer training to autistic children and their parents.

Ma Jun, a funeral director, was very popular among readers, who questioned him about his feelings toward the job and public suspicions of fat profits in the trade.

"I found many people harboring deep prejudice toward the service, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to share my story with more people," Ma said.

He Wen has attended the library three times as a reader."I found that many people are doing things that are not well known to the public but really meaningful to society," he said.

For Huang Huajun, the most exciting thing has been expanding the library readership. She now attracts 80 people to each gathering and has up to ten volunteers helping with the organization.

The library has no income and no permanent sponsorship. It is largely a voluntary group and the two Huang's sometimes pay the library's costs out of their own pocket.

"People are willing to pay for the goods they like; we pay for the realization of our ideas. Besides, I am a reader myself and I've learned a lot and made many friends," Huang said.

Graduating next year, Huang plans to stay in Nanning and continue her work with the library.

"The initial idea was simply out of interest, but now we feel it is also kind of a responsibility to keep managing it, as we have so many readers."

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