Reading is a way of life, and reading has become a common thing. The combination of urban reading space and the fragrance of books makes a city more warm, and the temperature that transmits and guards the cultural spirit has also become a reason for pedestrians to stop. As the "literary capital" of the world, Nanjing is a city filled with the fragrance of books in all seasons, and the ubiquitous urban reading space makes reading everywhere and at hand.
23 April, World Book Day
Xinhua Daily intersection reporter walked in
Nanjing Urban Reading Space
Feel the beauty of books and read the stories of the city
Mind Reading Room in the Community:
Residents write down their thoughts and throw them into the "relief grocery store"
In the Xiaxu community of Moling Street in Jiangning District, there is a place full of books - "Good Neighbor Study". In this study, the fragrance of books is cultivating more community vitality, temperature and quality.
Every day at 9 a.m., the Good Neighbor Study opens its doors on time to greet every reader. Here, there are about 10,000 books, and nearly 60 reading seats. As a branch library of Jiangning District Library, readers can borrow books from good neighborly libraries and return them with each library in Jiangning District.
The Good Neighbor Study is in the community, and the readers who come here are mostly the surrounding residents. On the one hand, the study room sinks public reading resources to the family and sows the seeds of reading; it also uses books as a medium to strengthen the emotional expression of people in the community, and sows the fragrance of books in a warm way.
"Rabbit Teacher" Zhang Yinxia has 20 years of experience in early childhood education and is one of the many volunteers of Good Neighbor Study. In her volunteer service, young readers at the Good Neighbor Study often hear wonderful picture book stories. In April 2021, after Nanjing Ning xiaoxing social work service center officially began to operate the Good Neighbor Study, under the efforts of Zhang Yinxia, the WeChat group of Good Neighbor Study Volunteers was created, and more and more readers in the study became volunteers to carry out book fragrance services here.
"Good Neighbor Mailbox" is a spiritual station set up by good neighbor study, and every reader can write down his or her own thoughts and throw them into the mailbox. Like a "relief grocery store", almost all the worries can be found here. The 88-year-old Xu Jinrong is a reader and volunteer in the study, and the most active answerer in the good neighbor mailbox. This year, a new round of new crown pneumonia outbreak, Xu Jinrong in the home of the standing medicine ran out, let him not expect that the volunteers in the study knew, the first time to help him buy medicine and delivered to the door.
Nowadays, more and more high-rise buildings are being built in the city, each family is like an "island", invisible social barriers have been erected between neighbors, and neighbors in the community have become the most familiar strangers. A book and a reading will bring the relationship between each other in the community closer and closer, infiltrating everyone's heart, and is also an important significance of the construction of the "Good Neighbor Study".
24-hour mobile library in the hotel:
"Poetry and Far Away" Hidden in the Journey of the City
At Wudingmen Metro Exit 2, the reporter found a special reading space in a hotel called "Atour". Push the door in, only to see that there is a "hole in the sky" behind the service desk, and the space covering an area of 70 to 80 square meters has been turned into an exquisite small library. Some citizens walked in and did not handle accommodation business, but went straight to the bookshelf to flip through the books, and the clerk seemed to be accustomed to not coming forward to inquire or disturb. This cultural and creative space has both a rich book style and a flexible life atmosphere.
Fan Chuan, the person in charge of the hotel, said that this reading space is called "Bamboo Residence", which is an offline embodiment of Atour's humanistic elements, and each Atour has it, just like a 24-hour mobile library hidden in urban life and travel, and it is also a spiritual station for people. "There are currently about 1,500 books, which are open to hotel guests and residents of the surrounding communities free of charge, and the biggest feature is that they can be borrowed for free, can be taken away and can be returned to other stores in any city." Fan Chuan said that he can often see guests stopping and staying at the hotel, and there is no shortage of surrounding residents reading and resting here.
"Poetry and Far Away", through the hotel and book after book, cleverly connected, perfect fit, loaded and derived more warm content and meaning.
"'Bamboo Residence' is not only an offline reading space, but also a place where urban culture takes place. Through 'Bamboo House', we have also carried out a number of offline salons or activities across the country, including photography, travel, music, etc., to share the joy of reading and on the road. According to the relevant person in charge of Atour Group, at present, Atour's "bamboo residence" in the country has nearly one million books, and on average, there are more than 1,000 books in the "bamboo residence" of each store. "According to incomplete statistics, 'Bamboo House' has held more than 500 sub-activities with the theme of reading, music, photography, etc. across the country since its establishment, and more than 100,000 people have participated in it."
At the beginning of this year, after conducting research on a large number of users, Atour will optimize the book selection link next, and select topics for book selection and classification. In addition, on the basis of the offline small salon, it is also planned to invite guests from different fields to share on the spot to create a more connotative cultural space. "It is no longer just a foothold for receiving visitors from all over the world, but also a 'poetry and far away place' for travelers, and also a living space for urban people." The person in charge said.
Bookstore in Industrial Heritage:
Feel the pulse of urban green development in reading
The abandoned mine pit in Tangshan is in a corner of Nanjing. In 2017, the Tangshan Mine Pit Park project became one of the pilot projects of "urban double repair" and was restoratively transformed and utilized. Pioneer Tangshan Mine Bookstore is located not far from the entrance of Tangshan Mine Pit Park. The sunlight in the spring, shining through the large floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides, forms a sense of light that attracts readers to wander in the fragrance of books. Here, there is more of a silent spiritual exchange.
"Today's bookstores have changed a lot with the changes of the times and needs." Du Shiwen, director of the pioneer Tangshan Mine Bookstore, said, "However, no matter how the appearance of the bookstore changes, the essence of reading has not changed." At the same time, reading is slowly becoming a common thing in everyone's life, such as eating and drinking water. ”
In the corner of the city, there are roughly two types of customers in the pit bookstore, one is the "regular customers" who live around the bookstore, and the other is the "family" who travels on weekends. On weekdays, the number of customers in the bookstore is not as large as on weekends, and the meticulous clerks can often observe the emotional changes hidden in a book and a cup of tea by the readers who sit in the bookstore for half a day; observe the peaceful meaning of the old man who lives in Zhou, pushing a cart and taking his grandson to the bookstore to read the small picture books.
The Pit Bookstore has preserved the red brick kiln left over from history. Du Shiwen said that some customers go in, look up, feel the excitement of willows and flowers through the internal passages and small exits at the top that extend all the way to the sky; some customers carefully ponder the moving feeling of towering kiln red bricks and shimmering sky at the same time... Just like reading, every reader has their own different feelings, the bookstore as a reading space, is to create an environment for readers to let go of imagination and let go of the heart.
In the pit bookstore, there are many careful thoughts. Clerks like to inadvertently put their favorite books in a special position, encounter customers who take the book down and turn it over may come forward to chat a few words, if they find the sound, the excitement will instantly open the conversation box, and the stranger's distance will disappear. Du Shiwen said that he likes to see the scene of his mother reading to her child in the bookstore, "because that sound of reading has planted a seed about books in the child's heart, which is the hope for the future." He said.
Source: Xinhua Daily, Intersection reporter Hu Jingjing, Huang Huan, Fan Jiexun
Editor: Li Pu