Migrant workers band together

Inspiring idea

Wang Qian is a librarian in the community, who recently spent a lot of time and effort trying to create a phone application that enables readers to search for lists of books not only found at the charity library, but also those of people who want to open their personal libraries to their neighbors.

The idea drifted into her mind when a teenage boy came with his mother looking for Japanese writer Keigo Higashino's best-selling Miracles of the Namiya General Store but failed to find a copy. When Wang was adding it to the purchase catalog, someone overheard the dialogue and offered to lend her personal copy of the book to the boy and brought it to the library the next day.

The teenage boy finished the book several days later with a letter written to Namiya, the owner of the store in the novel, who claims to be able to relieve anxiety and give consolation. In the letter, the boy expresses his confusion, one that might be residing in minds of many who live in Picun: how to define a "happy life"?

Seeing the impact of this "transaction", Wang was determined to make up for the information gap via a phone app, which will improve the reuse of books and help local bookworms to get acquainted.

With the help of several frequent library visitors, she summarized potential functions of the app, based on several rounds of street surveys she conducted personally, and immersed herself in its design. Feeling that there is so much that can be done in her surroundings, from book lending and retrieval to attracting more neighbors－both adults and children－into reading and encouraging them to share knowledge and feelings offline, she had plenty of inspiration.

Experiencing passion, self-doubt and going back to the drawing board more than once to start all over again and rebuild confidence, she expects to optimize the design, realize it and gradually extend its functions.

Everyone can be a creative individual that has something to contribute, she concludes.

Wang Bo says by gathering together and striving with people for the same hobby, such as rock music, they've got new ideas, support and supervision to pursue an improvement in their fortunes, both spiritual and material.