Zhejiang University Library: Where knowledge meets creation

"We want to give freshmen a map for reading, helping them find their own paths between classics and new knowledge, and between themselves and modern times," says Luo Congjing, president of the club.

The same spirit can be found in the ancient-book restoration room, where reading becomes a hands-on encounter with history.

Yu Xiaoran, a doctoral student at Zhejiang University's College of Literature and president of the Zijin Ancient Book Preservation Club, bends over a restoration table, using a brush and tweezers to repair documents dating back to the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

"Learning ancient-book restoration takes a long time," Yu says. Students first learn theory and bookbinding, often starting by replacing the covers of old books before gradually moving on to document restoration.

Her doctoral research focuses on Tang Dynasty (618-907) literature. The restoration work has also changed the way she reads.

"After restoring ancient books, when I look at the Tang Dynasty epitaphs and Dunhuang manuscripts in the collection, many of the characters no longer look like a foreign language to me," she says.