Libraries reach grassland herders by horseback

Writer Li Juan once described life on the summer pastures deep in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region as a season when "the days grow longer, and the afternoons seem to stretch endlessly."

Each spring and summer, when the grasslands turn green, herders across Xinjiang pack up their families and drive their sheep and cattle into the mountains in search of fresh pasture. They spend three or four months there before descending to the towns as the weather chills. The seasonal migration, known as zhuanchang, is a way of life shaped by the rhythms of the grasslands.

For months, many herding families live in portable yurts high in the mountains, without television or internet. Their days can be quiet and repetitive: tending livestock, milking animals, and sitting around talking together.

Three years ago, however, the routine in parts of Shawan in Tacheng prefecture, Xinjiang began to change. The city's library launched a program known as the "Library on Horseback," sending volunteers into three mountainous areas with books strapped to horses. The program reaches roughly 1,000 herders, according to Liu Shuya, an official with the Shawan Library.

"Is it free?" Tangnuer Nuerdawulieti, a staff member at the Xigebi township library in Shawan, is often asked when she arrives in the mountains with books and is quickly surrounded by curious herders.

Yes, she tells them. The books are part of a free public program.

"The policies are really good now," some herders respond.

Children, meanwhile, are usually the most eager readers. During the summer vacation, they have more time to browse through the books, often making a beeline for picture books and other titles that catch their eye.

Xigebi is home to about 1.83 million mu (about 122,000 hectares) of pastureland, and about 60 percent of its residents are from the Kazak ethnic group. The books delivered by volunteers include titles in both Chinese and Kazakh, ranging from novels and health guides to practical books on raising livestock.

About every two weeks, volunteers carry 200 to 300 books to two or three locations where herders tend to gather, rotating the collection each time.

The narrow mountain trails make horses the most practical means of reaching the pastures.

Horseback riding is common in Xinjiang, Nuerdawulieti says. Motorcycles are also used, but not everyone knows how to ride one. She herself can ride a horse but not a motorcycle. And the gentle horses she rides make the journey less bumpy.

Nuerdawulieti usually travels with three or four colleagues. They drive as close to the pastures as possible, then switch to horseback, loading the books into saddlebags. From there, the volunteers ride for another 40 to 50 minutes before reaching their destination.

Along the way, friendly herders sometimes offer directions or help carry the books.

The scenery is part of the reward. Under blue skies and drifting clouds, cattle and sheep graze across the summer grasslands. The volunteers and local residents sometimes sit together on the grass for informal reading sessions, and share books they have recently read or tell stories. "The people they can talk to daily are very few, so they are especially happy to see us," says Guo Jianhong, who works with Nuerdawulieti at the township library.

Recently, Guo told a group of herders about a tourist whose car had become stuck in the mud. A local man helped pull it out and refused payment, waving away the money the tourist offered.

The herders enjoyed the story, Guo says, because it reflected what they see as the straightforward and generous character of the Xinjiang people.

After three years, Liu says, the program has begun to change lives in the mountain communities in small but visible ways. Children seem increasingly interested in books and more willing to express themselves. Some herders have also begun to change long-established eating habits after reading health-related books, including reducing their reliance on diets heavy in beef and mutton to avoid digestive problems.

"It's rewarding to see the books actually being read," Liu says.

Nuerdawulieti feels the same. After spending most of her life in the township, she had not read a physical book for a long time. But in the mountains, she discovered that books could be treasured in another way.

For her, the most satisfying moment comes when a book finally reaches a herder's hands