Birdhouse libraries help to spread joy of reading

Propping a wooden birdhouse 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 his fourth birdhouse library.

The 36-year-old, who is self-employed, is spreading his joy of reading by distributing the birdhouses. It's part of a book exchange program inspired by something similar in the US.

The idea quickly migrated to Chinese cities. Participants take a free book from the birdhouse and replace it with one of their own.

So far, Yan has created four such libraries, with two already adopted by volunteers. He also maintains his own. Every morning since Nov 1, he has gone to a nearby bus stop and placed a book-filled birdhouse in plain sight. In the evening, he goes back to see how many books have been exchanged.

"In the first week, all of the books remained," said Yan. "Then some people began to take away books, and others put books in."

In recent weeks, 18 books have been exchanged. Only three of the original books are left, he said. Titles range from literary masterpieces and history to children's books.

"It is worthwhile to exchange a different book for one that a person has already read," said Li Meng, a woman in her 30s who was exchanging a book on Tuesday. "The library is small, but each book has its own value."

Similar miniature libraries are emerging in other Chinese cities, including Xiamen, Fujian province, and Nanjing and Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province.

At a residential community in Zhenjiang, a birdhouse library now has books exchanged every day. It was set up in July by Wang Jia, the Party chief of the community.

Instead of letting hundreds of books in the community library "lie sleeping", it is a good idea to bring books closer to residents, Wang said.

Five more of the libraries were installed in the community in September. The first birdhouse library appeared in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, in January.