How can different
people discard their prejudices and
achieve reconciliation in the face of
conflict? This was a question that
a group of young people from
Denmark tried to answer through a
unique form of dialogue they invented
in 2000 and called "Living Library."
After growing in popularity worldwide,
it has now come to
China.
The living library, also
known as a human library, is a
social movement that began in Europe
when several young Danes had the
idea of bringing together people from
different cultural backgrounds, nations,
educational levels, religions and professions
to communicate on the basis of
equality to dispel hostility and
bias.
At a music festival
in 2000, the organizers introduced 75
"books," which were in fact 75 real
people with a variety of identities,
including a policeman, a Muslim, a
stripper, a person living with HIV,
an American Indian, and even an
extremist far-right Hungarian, to the
public, who could be "borrowed" and
"read" just like books in a
library.
Reading these living
books is very simple - each book
can talk with readers face to
face, and sometimes a small group
of readers can read one book.
Book and reader discuss, share and
debate different thoughts, ideas, lifestyles,
religions and living circumstances. Through
such readings, they enhance mutual
understanding.
Reading
festival
Though it was not
introduced to China until 2010 in
Shanghai, this new type of social
activity has been followed by many
across the country.
On April
20, a large wave of living library
activities was held in 21 Chinese
cities ahead of World Book Day.
In Guangzhou, 50 living books were
presented to 200 readers to read at
the same time, setting a new
record in China.
More than 800
readers applied to attend the event
but only 200 were lucky enough to
be selected. The event was divided
into four rounds, each lasting 40
minutes. In each round, a maximum
of eight readers would read one
book together. Each reader would get
a borrower's card which listed
four "books" he or she would
read during the event based on
their preferences.
According to
Liu Qiongxiong, founder of the LCY
Sharing Community, a Guangzhou-based social
enterprise which organized this event
and one of the earliest groups
to be involved in living libraries
in China, the purpose of the
reading is to provide a platform
for different people to get to
know each other through in-depth
communication.
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