Yunxi Library in Tonglu county, Zhejiang province, opened in 2015. [PHOTO BY HOU BOWEN/YAO LI/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Yunxi Library in Daijia Mountain, Tonglu county, is a nonprofit program built in the community of the She ethnic group.

In May, when the Chinese writer A Yi went to Yunxi Library with Qian for an event related to his latest book, Wake Me Up At 9 Am, he was surprised to see lines of cars and buses stuck on the road leading to the library. Motorists and passengers had to go to the venue on foot, and after the event all the 24 hostels in the village were booked out.

All of this raises the question of whether villagers will find big influxes of outsiders to their villages disruptive and upsetting.

"On the contrary, when some villagers saw Qian arrive, they all came to talk to him," A Yi says. "Many old ladies sent him homemade food and specialties as if he were their son."