QIXIAN, Shanxi: Cabbages and ears of corn sit piled in the corner of a tidy rural courtyard, ready to be consumed during the coming winter. Red lanterns hang above, and a sculpture of Chairman Mao Zedong presides over it all.
Despite its humble appearance, this small courtyard is well known to the residents of Fengze village, Qiqian county, Shanxi Province, as a center of learning.
Its owner, Quan Yong, a 48-year-old farmer, has operated a free lending library and cinema for local villagers and migrant workers out of the site since 1996.
Over the past decade, his collection of books has grown to 17,000 titles in 12 categories, including fiction, children's books, agricultural technology and health/reproduction. He also has 1,600 films, most of them patriotic historical tales.
Quan has spent nearly 200,000 yuan, which he raised collecting recyclable garbage and farming, to build his culture courtyard.
"Children like cartoons, while adults favor material about agriculture. Newlywed women tend to be interested in books on sexual health," Quan told China Daily. "When it's warm, the courtyard gets about 60 visitors per day, though the number is much smaller in the winter as there is no heating system."
"Villagers used to come here to play mah-jongg and chat," Quan said. "Not many people were interested in my culture courtyard idea back then. They would say no one would want to read here and ask why I had opened it."
In response to those doubters, he has hung a sign on the courtyard's wall that says: "Study more and play mah-jongg less; read more books and smoke fewer cigarettes."
Friends suggested he open a grocery store instead of a library to generate some income for his cash-stripped family. At that time Quan had two sons in school.
However, he had other plans for the courtyard. At the age of 18, Quan worked as a part-time projectionist at Fengze when not working his land.
He said the experience had given him a lifelong interest in the arts and made him sensitive to his fellow villagers' interest in culture as their incomes rose.
"Our open air cinema usually opens at 9pm, after the farmers have stopped work for the day," he said. "There are always huge crowds and they enjoy the movies very much."
Tunnel War, a film about China's resistance to the invading Japanese army, is a local favorite, Quan said.
He said he also shows educational shorts about family planning policy or preventing traffic accidents during the breaks.
Quan speaks standard Mandarin, a rare skill among local villagers, who consider the language one of intellectuals.
"I learned it from watching movies," he said with evident pride.
Source: China Daily
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