It was dusk in late November
in subtropical Guangdong prov-
ince. Cool winds had dispersed
the perennial humidity.
In the well-lit sitting room of a
bungalow in an alley in Nancheng
town of Dongguan, Wu Guichun,
54, was eating a 15-yuan ($2.3)
takeaway dinner on a desk.
It consisted of steamed rice,
vegetables and three kinds of stir-
fried meats as well as a pickled
duck egg.
The place belonged to a shoe
factory owner whom Wu had
known for 17 years since he
arrived. Normal rent was 500
yuan a month, but Wu lived here
temporarily free of charge.
The only furniture in the sitting
room was a desk and a stool. Un-
der the desk were a pair of dark
navy blue plastic slippers and a
pair of canvas shoes of the same
color, all the shoes he owned
besides the black leather ones
on his feet, he said. For years, Wu
had been a minimalist with his
belongings, given that he was
always having to move, he said.
The most expensive clothes
he had ever bought was a 600-
yuan suit he wore when going on
a reading show on China Central
Television in October.
Standing against the right side
of the desk was a jar of liquor,
inside which swollen scarlet
wolf berries were soaking. “All
through these years, my only
partner has been this drink,” he
said.
In June, Wu, one of 6 million
migrant workers in Dongguan,
became an instant celebrity
nationwide after working there
for 17 years because of com-
ments he had made about thecity’s main library, comments
that millions found both touching
and inspirational after they made
their way onto the internet.
Wu, of Xiaogan, Hubei prov-
ince, said he fi rst came to Dong-
guan to look for opportunities in
2003 after his wife left him.
Dongguan, which many know
as “the Factory of the World”, was
attracting young people from all
over the country, many working
in the city when labor-intensive
light industries held sway.
Wu, 37 at the time, was
deemed too old for these manu-
facturing behemoths and had
to look for opportunities in small
shoe factories, where his job was
to put glue on shoe parts.
In those days Wu’s monthly
salary was 3,000 yuan, which
grew to more than 10,000 yuan
in busy periods. In recent years
he has been happy to receive
5,000 yuan a month.
At fi rst he bought cheap
books, but in 2008 started going
to Dongguan Library.
The conditions were pleasant,
there was access to water, you
could read anything you liked
and, best of all, it was free.
Over the past 20 years, asDongguan’s importance as
a manufacturing center has
grown, its GDP has risen 20-fold
to nearly 950 billion yuan in- As the economy has grown
the city has tried to improve
people’s cultural lives.
In 2002 a library covering
45,000 square meters (484,400
sq. ft.) was built, the largest of its
kind for a prefecture-level city in
China.
Two years later the city set
about building an extensive li-
brary network, opening branches
around the city. A bus library
delivers books to diff erent towns
every day so that workers in fac-
tories can borrow or return books
without traveling long distances.
In 2005 Dongguan Library
started off ering services 24
hours a day, believed to be a fi rst
in China.
It also began organizing free
lectures and classes that help
migrant workers pick up profes-
sional skills such as lathing and
milling, courses that are now also
available online.
Six years after this great
literary adventure began, the
American Library Association
bestowed on Dongguan Library
TOP: The Dongguan Library started
off ering services 24 hours a day in
2005, and also organizing free lectures
and classes that help migrant workers
pick up professional skills, courses
that are now also available online.
ABOVE: Wu Guichun stands in front of
Dongguan Library.
PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILYRefuge for bookworms andthe broken-heartedA migrant worker’s
12-year relationship
with a local institution
underscores the social
importance of libraries
BY YANG YANG
China Watch materials are distributed by China Daily Distribution Corp., on behalf of China Daily, Beijing, China.