RAYS OF HOPE from a hidden book trove

Shaxi Bai Ethnic Bookstore is the fifth village bookshop that Qian has opened.

"I'm the son of farmers, so I want to look after the interests of villages. I'm concerned about the fate of farmers because many villages have been emptied out as young people have left to take up jobs in cities and lead more comfortable lives there. I'm keen to do something for farmers because I know how hard their lives are.

"After work farmers have nowhere to go to engage in public life. By opening bookshops in villages we can reconstruct public spaces and cultural life in the countryside. More people will return to villages to start their businesses and realize their dreams, so that the villages can be revived."

Apart from books of literature, poetry and so on, as in many other village bookshops, Shaxi Bai Ethnic Bookstore also sells books about Yunnan, with themes such as the Tea-Horse Caravan Route, Dali, the Bai Ethnic Group and present history, geography, education, custom and the diversified ethnic groups in the province.

Reflecting the many different ethnic groups living in Yunnan, the bookshop also sells books in other languages than Chinese, such as Tibetan and the Dongba characters of the Naxi ethnic group.