A Xizang library connects two cities over 3,000 km apart

Since arriving in Metog county in August, a 55-year-old tourist surnamed Song has gotten used to visiting the Lotus Book House, a public library in the county in Nyingchi city, Xizang autonomous region.

Driving by himself from Lhasa, the capital of Xizang, Song found a good place to spend his time on reading while visiting this county.

"The environment here is comfortable," he said. "Metog is at a lower altitude, and it's easier to breathe. I like spending time here."

Inside the library, shelves are filled with children's books, nonfiction, science titles and publications related to Metog. Readers can pick out a book that interests them and find a quiet place to read.

Wangmu, a member of the Monba ethnic group, has worked at the Lotus Book House for nearly two years. The library opens at 9:30 am and closes at 10 pm, serving residents and tourists.

"Many of the books here are bestsellers," Wangmo said. That's why so many adults and children like coming here."
Sometimes more than 200 people visit the library each day, she added.

Opened in 2023, the 421-square-meter library was built with support from the paired assistance program between Metog and Foshan, a city in South China's Guangdong province. More than 3,000 sets of books and self-service equipment were initially donated by Foshan's culture and tourism authorities, and the collection has since grown to more than 10,000 volumes.

But the library is designed to do more than keep books on shelves.

Readers can register through a WeChat mini-program and use a digital reader code to borrow and return books on self-service machines. Each reader can check out up to 20 books at a time for as long as two months.

More importantly, the book house is connected with Foshan's public library resources.

"We are linked with Foshan, so readers can share resources between the two places," Wangmo added. "The service is public and free."

According to information displayed at the book house, it is the only public library in Nyingchi whose reader data is connected to Guangdong's public library system. Books borrowed in Metog can also be returned through the library network in Foshan.

For a public library surrounded by mountains in Xizang, the connection extends its reach far beyond the books physically stored inside.

Technology has also made the library easier to manage. Readers can complete much of the borrowing process themselves, while staff members can use a networked system to control equipment in the building.

Yet for Wangmu, the value of the book house is ultimately reflected in the people who use it.

Residents come to read or join reading activities. Parents bring their children, while tourists who travel to Metog for its mountains and forests sometimes stop by and stay for a book.

In 2024, the Lotus Book House recorded more than 200,000 visits, according to local cultural and tourism authorities.

For Song, however, the appeal of the book house is much simpler.

He came to Metog as a traveler, but during his stay, the library became somewhere he returned to almost every day.

Thousands of kilometers separate Metog and Foshan. Inside the Lotus Book House, that distance can be bridged with something as ordinary as borrowing a book.

And for a traveler who came to Metog to see its landscapes, a library has become another place worth returning to.

The author is a graduate student at the School of Journalism and Communications, Tsinghua University.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.