Problems and prospects of residential community libraries

By Zhao Hongyi
Two years ago, the municipal government appealed to all communities to set up their own libraries and encourage residents to donate books.

As of June, this plan to create community-level cultural centers has resulted in the creation of 1,292 new libraries.

But at many, management and staff say development has come to a screeching halt. Many are still searching for a sustainable model and new ways to attract readers.
Exodus of readers

“With the semester about to start, our readers are mainly kids and their grandparents. Our volunteer operators are vanishing back to school.”
- Mou Li, volunteer, Sanhuan Xincheng Community Library
It has been unusually quiet at the Sanhuan Xincheng community library since the new semester began.

While elementary and high school student readers are busy preparing for the new school year, the college-age temps that made up the library staff have abandoned the project for campus life.

Ostensibly, the library is still open – even though the lights are out and the staff is gone. “In principle, we are open as long as we have readers. But when no one comes, we have to shut down,” Mou Li, one of the volunteers, said.

The library space has been handed back to the community center for the time being.

Sanhuan Xincheng has a collection of more than 8,000 books and magazines. Aside from its large collection of fiction, it also has non-fiction titles for adult readers interested in child rearing, healthcare and business management.

“The community is hoping to find new volunteers among the retirees and housewives,” Mou said.
Facing difficulties

“We have a hard time getting the books out there and keeping a permanent venue.”
- Lan Niao, Huilongguan Kids Library

“We don’t have the money to buy the new titles that could attract readers.”
- Li Xin, Anzhen Xi Li Community Library
Sanhuan Xincheng library is not alone in its problems.

In the two years since the government called for community libraries, 1,292 opened to serve 49 percent of the city’s residential communities.

“We ask residents to donate their books and magazines and budget to purchase books,” said Sun Yuetang from the Shenggu residential community. “Nearly 90 percent of our books are donated. But we still cannot meet the residents’ demands for newer, better books.”

Huilongguan, a huge community outside North Fifth Ring Road, has had a library since 2008. Volunteers from the neighborhood maintain the library and raise 1,200 yuan each year to purchase new books. It recently opened a second library to target young readers.

“We have to rent space in senior sports center,” Lan Niao, one of the volunteers, said, “For us, that’s the biggest headache. We never know when they will force us to move out.”

Lan and her volunteers started their library in a farmer’s yard and later moved to a coffee bar. Finding readers has not been a problem: finding somewhere to store equipment and books has.

At Anzhen Xi Li, the community library has tens of thousands of books and dozens of periodicals. Local residents like the library, and nearly 100 of them are regular readers who spend their days there. Its computer network is connected to Capital Library, allowing readers to search the larger library for books they might need.

“It is quiet here, very nice and comfortable,” said Li Shouqing, a retired local resident and old acquaintance of the library.

But Anzhen’s library faces the problem of a permanent venue. It is currently located on the noisiest corner of the residential park, and many visitors have complained, asking for a quieter location, Li Xin, one of the operators, said.

New books, however, are not a problem. Li said the library has close ties with several other large community libraries, and they rotate stock on a regular basis.

Because the library is run as a non-profit with no backing, Li can only open it during working hours. “We cannot afford the electricity and water to keep it open longer.”

Without a budget, a permanent location, a growing collection of books and new readers, Lan and Li said they fear it may be difficult to continue.
Creative solutions

“We can walk out to collect books from government agencies, embassies and universities to enrich our own collections.”
- Jim Habib, retired American in Tongzhou
The library-building campaign caught the attention of several foreigners who decided to start an English library. Jim Habib and his wife Lorene are one of the couples maintaining a small English library in Tongzhou District.

Aside from calling for donations, the couple actively solicits books and magazines from the embassies and colleges. They hope their small library can eventually become a bookstore and English club.

“We have to take the initiative to collect books and magazines if we are determined to build up our library,” Habib said.

But like other libraries, the Habibs’ also needs permanent staff and regular volunteers.

“Communities should try to hire people who have social work experience and who know how to make connections to solve problems,” said Yang Rong, an assistant professor of social management at Beijing University of Technology.

Some of that networking may be tackled by Capital Library.

“We are building a network of community libraries that will be based on four levels: municipality, downtown residential communities, suburb districts and the rural countryside,” Deng Juying, vice curator of the Capital Library, the proposer of the initiative, said in an interview.

Last year, the municipal government started a fund that will be used to supply each district with a yearly sum of 1.5 million yuan to be used for new books. Dongcheng District has already organized a center to oversee purchases, distribution and circulation between all libraries under its control.

“We are still just getting starts, so I’m sure things will improve once the government starts to support our best efforts,” Yang said.

“Community libraries aren’t about size,” Deng said.

“Of course, we most certainly would expand given the opportunity.”

Counterfeit industry may crash antiques trade, experts warn

By Liang Meilan

The heated debate over the legitimacy of Cao Cao’s tomb escalated this week when a Hubei-based scholar of cultural relics demonstrated that the relics ound within it were created using the same counterfeiting techniques as many shady dealers of dubious antiquities.

While not everyone is convinced of his proof, the news has drawn  attention to the alarming accuracy with which the fake cultural relic industry  reinvents history.

The relatively mature industry, which survives by taking advantage of weak legislation, is currently generating more than 10 billion yuan per year. Some experts are pointing to a coming “credit crisis” in the market for antique

Know your fakes

Panjiayuan in Chaoyang District is famous for its 50,000 square-meter antique market — a training ground where many relic hunters g to learn how to tell a fake from a historical gem.

Of course, the vendors wouldn’t be there if everyone shopped with the eye of an expert.Vendors say the market is better described as a breeding ground for “rich peasnts,” who sell their latest fake antiques to eager and often clueless tourists.“Each year, thousands come to Panjiayuan to profit by selling these fake antiques,” said Wu Shu, a cultural scholar who has spent the lt five years studying the dark sides of the national antique trade.

Xiao Ge, 31, is one such rich peasant.

In 1999, Xiao’s friends told him that selling fake artifacts in Beijing was as easy as printing money. With onlyfive years of primary school education, the 20-year-old left his Henan Province village to seek cash in the big city.

He got his start by helping antique traders locate collectors, and eventually went on to sell small jades. Today, Xiao owns a Panjiayuan store with two branches in town where he trades in furniture worth millions of yuan.

Xiao has seen a dramatic change in the market during the last decade.

“Ten year ago, when I just started doing business, most of the artifacts being traded were real antiques acquired by tomb raiders. Finishing each deal was a dangerous experience because we knew we were doing something illegal,’’ he saidThen counterfeit goods began pouring into the market, making it easier and safer to earn money. “Most are produced with exquisite techniques. Some fake artifacts that cost only a few dozen yuan can be sold in a show window forthe price of a real one,” he said.Xiao and other vendors consider selling counterfeits to new collectors at high prices a “tuition fee” of sortsLess perfect fakes are labeled as imitations and sold a hundred times their production cost to tourists or foreigners looking for decorations or gifts. “So the counterfeits on the market have two sides. Some are for collectors, and others are for common use,” he sai

Eighty percent of the antiques at Panjiayuan are fakes,” said Li Yanjun, a researcher of the counterfeiting industry at Beijing Oriental University.“The big problem is that most of the fakes end up in antique stores and auction shops. Oncethey end up there, they wreak havoc on the market,” he said.

Problems and potential in community libraries

By Zhao Hongyi

Two years ago, the municipal government appealed to all communities to set up their own libraries and encourage residents to donate books.

As of June, this plan to create community-level cultural centers has resulted in the creation of 1,292 new libraries.

But at many, management and staff say development has come to a screeching halt. Many are still searching for a sustainable model and new ways to attract readers.

Exodus of readers

“With the semester about to start, our readers are mainly kids and their grandparents. Our volunteer operators are vanishing back to school.〃C Mou i, volunteer,

- Sanhuan Xincheng, Community Library

It has been unusually quiet at the Sanhuan Xincheng community library since the new semester began.

While elementary and high school student readers are busy preparing for the new school year, the college-age temps that made up the library staff have abandoned the project for campus life.

Ostensibly, the library is still open – even though the lights are out and the staff is gone. “In inciple, we are open as long as we have readers. But when no one comes, we have to shut down,” Mou Li, one of the volunteers, said.The library space has been handed back to the community center for the time being.

Sanhuan Xincheng has a collection of more than 8,000 books and magazines. Aside from its large collection of fiction, it also has non-fiction titles for adult readers interested in child rearing, healthcare and business management.

“The community is hoping to find new volunteers among retirees and housewives,” Mou said.

SOS orphan village continues to hemorrhage moms

By Li Zhixin

Beijing SOS Children’s Village put out the word last Monday that it is looking for new moms.

The advertisement, posted on the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau’s homepage, marks the seventh time the village has searched for new workers since opening one year ago.

Village organizers initially planned to recruit 15 moms and six assistants when it opened, but it has yet to retain that many eligible parents.

Moms moving on

Fan Pufang (pseudonym), 34, pledged to bring up a generation of children in the village when she joined the staff, but she will be leaving next month.

She was one of the first moms hired by the village when it opened last July.

Having grown up in a single-parent family, Fan said she knows the important role of a mother in the life of a child. Her own experiences growing up led her to apply enthusiastically to the first recruitment drive.

As a mom, Fan hoped to make a difference in the children’s lives.

Her work in the village was to take care of daily life, develop recipes that met the children’s nutritional requirements, record the cost of each child’s living and educate the children according to their needs.

Her colleagues said Fan loved children very much and was a model of professionalism and responsibility. But as more orphans were sent to the village, her workload was bumped from raising two children to five.

Three months ago was the first time she thought about quitting. As she is still single, her elderly mother has been pushing her to get married. However, SOS prevents its moms from marrying while under contract.

“I don’t want to abandon these children, but I have to look after my mother and consider my own future. I am not that young anymore,” she said. 

These same concerns have driven many of Fan’s colleagues to quit.

Four moms left the village during the last year to marry or capitulate to their family’s demands that they leave the village.

“Each new mom loves her job and intends to stick with it, but it can be hard to resist pressure from parents and relatives who can’t understand why they have to stay single. Their relatives criticize them for having physical or psychological problems,” said Jin Linde, head of the village.

“So we can totally understand our employees. If they choose to leave, we will respect their decision,” he said. “We have grown used to it.”

Making it happen – Doctor drops hospital salary to serve African mission

By He Jianwei

Liu Chen-kun, an anesthesiologist and graduate of China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan Province, joined Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 2008.

For the next two years, Liu worked as a volunteer at six medical missions that put him to work in the most desperate regions in southern Sudan, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

Besides providing medical care for patients who lived with few or no doctors, he also served as a mentor for what little local medical staff existed.

Liu speaks with excitement and a big grin as he describes his years as a volunteer doctor in Africa.

It would be easy to discount the 34-year-old doctor’s stories, but his thoroughly tanned skin stands out like a badge marking his years of service.

Liu spoke Saturday at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art about his mission to Africa, where he was performing nine to 12 surgeries per day.

“The easiest job was administering anesthetic. That should tell you how many more difficult tasks I had to learn to deal with,” Liu says.

After graduating in 2001, Liu went to work at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. Despite a high salary, he was not satisfied with his life.

“I was sick of the routine. Every day there was a morning meeting, a couple of surgeries and then an afternoon of explaining everything to the patients,” he says. “The operating room in the department of gynecology and obstetrics on Floor 8 was the only one with a window. I spent every day wondering what was happening outside.”

Those wonders ended the day he bought the tour book Istanbul to Katmandu at Page One Bookstore in Taipei. He resigned from the hospital and hopped a train to Istanbul from Shanghai.

Danxia a world heritage, but how to protect it?

By Zhang Dongya

An August 2 vote at the World Heritage Conference in Brazil made China’s Danxia a new world heritage site.

With 40 world heritage sites, China ranks third in the world. Its first world heritage site was recognized in 1987, the year after the country became a signatory in the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

There are more than 200 domestic sites vying to be next on the list. Some 60 have been shortlisted for submission, 35 of which – including West Lake in Hangzhou – are already preparing for next year’s annual bid.

Danxia wins

It was 5 am, August 2 – Beijing time.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee had just started the meeting to decide whether “China Danxia Landform” would become the latest addition to the World Heritage List at the 34th conference in Brasilia, capital of Brazil.

Danxia is the general name for six geologically and geographically related land areas: Chishui in Guizhou, Taining in Fujian, Langshan Mountain in Hunan, Danxia Mountain in Guangdong, Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi and Jianglang Mountain in Zhejiang.

Twenty of the 21 member countries present at the meeting agreed that Danxia needed to be protected.

“The only objection was to the name ‘Danxia’ and to China’s late submission of the application, which were hardly crippling issues,” said Harry Zhang, a representative at the Office of Application for World Heritage.

The unique geomorphology is called “red cliff” by scholars abroad. In China, it uses the more romantic name “Danxia,” or red clouds.

“Most people in other countries understand the name after explanation. The name lets us keep this feature rooted in southeast China,” Zhang said.

Danxia meets two of the most important criteria for natural heritage: it is a remarkable natural phenomena and an area of exceptional natural beauty, and it is an outstanding example of a major stage in the Earth’s history that embeds the record of life in a significant on-going geological process.

The ancient architectural complex of the Shaolin Temple, called “The Center of Heaven and Earth” in Dengfeng, Henan Province, was also included in the World Culture Heritage list. The last conference had deferred its ruling, but approved it this year under a new name.

Lost kingdom of bicycles – Revival of pedaling power faces dilemma

By Huang Daohen

Twenty years ago, four out of five Beijingers pedaled around the city on some of the world’s best bicycle lanes. It was a “kingdom of bicycles.”

Today is different as lanes are repainted for four-wheel traffic and the bicycle fleet is being abandoned for private cars.

Is the capital ready to become a new kingdom of 4 million cars? Probably not. Cars are increasing air pollution, traffic congestion and parking problems, and the government is finally starting to miss the good old days.

Several new policies aimed at reviving cycling are being pushed through, and the government hopes to have 1,000 bicycle rental booths around the city with 50,000 bicycles by 2015.
But privately-owned rental companies are cautiously optimistic: Many have invested millions since 2008 but are now struggling to survive.

New hope for migrants’ preschool

By Annie Wei

Being a parent on an average salary is tough in Beijing. Education fees become a burden starting from kindergarten, and rarely do they become any easier to bear.

Public schools require a child to have hukou in their jurisdiction, and private schools are incredibly expensive.

In a city that is home to 5 million migrants, many educators, volunteers and parents are scrambling to find a feasible kindergarten model for migrant children.

Shut down again

Sihuan Game Group, which provides a volunteer-supported preschool to migrant children, has been through some ups and downs.

This week was one of its biggest downs yet: Sihuan’s latest attempt at a free kindergarten was crushed only days after opening.

The group had been hosting educational activities at the Sihuan market for six years, but was forced to close May 5 when the government implemented new security regulations after a series of school murders around the country.

At the end of July, the group found a new location only 10 minutes from the market.

The new location, opposite the Jishuitan Chinese Traditional Medicine Hospital and beside a public toilet, was a five-room courtyard. After cleaning it up and remodeling, the school opened to 20 children and 10 parents.

Using a 50,000-yuan endowment donated by Ren Chunguang, principal of Beijing Chunguang Language School, it re-opened at the new location Monday.

But the group was immediately reported to the jiedao, the local residential committee, by neighbors for “being disturbing.”

Police quickly arrived and told the group to keep their voices down and that they would take care of the neighbors. 

At lunch, the police came again to ask who was in charge of fire alarms and safety issues. The volunteers said they would handle the paperwork as soon as possible.

Tuesday afternoon, the residential administration came and ordered the group to shut down, citing its lack of proper license.

It was the fourth shutdown in six years.

Eight day of the week? – Week08.com turns anecdotes into cash

By Liang Meilan

eBay, one of the few survivors of the dot-com bubble that rocked IT in the late 1990s, has been a model for countless smaller copycats.

But creativity has been the exception among clones. First there was the Belgian site Zilok, founded to auction rented services, and then UK-based Sweemo, selling life moments.

Now China too may have hit on a new model: Week08.com, a website trading real and tested experiences.

Since last June, the idealistic start-up has been creating a stir in the e-commerce field with its new ideas. But new ideas are not a guarantee of success.

From unknown to OK

Drawing on his background in e-commerce, Xiong Xinxiang believes he has found a perfect match between online auctioning and his life philosophy: Week08, a website updated dynamically to sell new stories about daily experiences.

“Life is punctuated by question marks and OKs,” the CEO says. “The experiences gained from everything in between are precious, valuable on their own and useful for others.”

The CEO, now in his 40s, is also the boss of an IT company and is one of the shareholders in one of the top information websites, Zhubajie.

“We consider our boss a philosopher and admire his strong belief that it is not only the experiences of accomplished people which should be recorded in books. There is value in the small bits of wisdom ordinary people gain from daily life,” said He Ping, manager of Week08.

The site attempts to draw on profitable assets usually left buried in people’s minds to turn them into documents that can be sold via online auction. “Experiences being auctioned on the website vary from subtle tips on child rearing to making sure your company’s secrets stay secret,” He said.

“The value of these experiences is demonstrated only when passed on to the right people. Week08 uses the wide availability and interactivity of the Internet to get these experiences to the people who might benefit from them,” said Wang Song, e-commerce expert with IResearch.cn, a research website specializing in new economy analysis. “This model is significant for people who need tested solutions to the kinds of problems that appear while on the job.”

From its inception, the website has targeted office workers who spend their life in front of a terminal. “Week08 as a name signifies that we give workers a new ‘eighth workday’ where the website can work for them by turning their summary of experiences into extra money,” He said.

Programming under the Apple tree

By Wang Yu

The iPhone 4 is out in the US, and China’s Apple fans are preparing for yet another round of fierce upgrades. But China does more than simply build the hardware that guarantees the Cupertino gurus their massive profits: it also builds the software.

The launch of the App Store in July 2008 gave many Chinese developers a new avenue to establish their mobile software businesses and win profits overseas.

iPhone development is not terribly difficult – most Apps require more creativity than programming prowess. But after two years, it is becoming more and more difficult for new startups to stand out in a store that has grown saturated with similar products.