Human Library gets people talking_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Human Library gets people talking

"Everyone is a book," is the slogan of a peculiar library in the southern Chinese city of Nanning. Here, the "books" are literally people.

It is the Human Library of Nanning, where people with specific stories to tell have replaced books. Visitors "read" the living tomes by listening to their stories and asking them questions.

"Here you can read people who have special stories or whose work you might never encounter in your own life," said Huang Huajun, a college student and founder of the library.

Human Libraries started in Denmark in 2000, the brainchild of a group of young people who wanted to promote tolerance and understanding via the spoken word. In China, these novel libraries flourish in cities such as Shanghai and Chengdu, and are gaining popularity with young people.

Huang stumbled upon the concept in Hong Kong last year and, together with like-minded schoolmate Huang Jingyan, established the Nanning library in April.

"There is a Chinese saying that it's better to travel thousands of miles than to read a thousand books, but we believe reading thousands of people is an even better idea," said Huang Huajun.

Her collection so far consists of 22 "living books" - people who either have distinctive life stories or represent groups that remain largely unknown to the public.

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.