At this London corner, the chat's in Mandarin

London's first Chinese corner was established at a West End public library on Friday to promote the learning of Chinese and cultural communication between the two countries.

Located in the heart of the theater district, the Charing Cross Library has more than 70 years' history, but despite the large Chinese community nearby, there were no Chinese books until the 1980s. Started from a few Chinese books and several shelves, the library now has become the biggest public Chinese library in Britain, with more than 70,000 Chinese books and over 100 kinds of periodicals.

The Chinese corner was established to develop Chinese teaching and learning as well as Chinese cultural exchanges. The program features business Chinese language teaching, dialogue and writing.