In a cold winter evening, when most people are stuck in traffic trying to get back home, more than 50 people are sitting quietly in the bright reading room of the Beijing Science Education Library, immersed in their evening reading.

What make it hard for these people to go home is not only the books, but also the friendly atmosphere created in the library.

"I often come here. It's near my home and convenient. When I need new books, I can even ask the library to add them onto the shelf. I've also made many new friends who share the same interest of reading with me," said one reader Wang Hailong 

Located in a community compound in west Beijing's Shijingshan District, the Beijing Science Education Library cannot be compared with many public libraries in scale, but it is unique in that it's the first private library in Beijing.

Founder and director of the library Pan Yueyong said public libraries have many disadvantages in terms of management and service.

"Most public libraries do not open in the evenings. And they're far away from people's homes, which is not convenient for people to borrow and return books. But our library is near the neighborhood. We're much smaller in scale compared to public libraries, but we can provide better services," said Pan. 

In Britain, 58% of people have a library card. In China, only less than half a percent of the population has library cards. Every 2,000 Americans share a library. In China, the figure is 800,000. Is it that Chinese people do not have a habit of reading in libraries? Pan Yueyong says no. He thinks the main reason is that current public libraries cannot cater for the needs of readers.

Back in 1999, Pan began his trial of a private library in Jining City in East China's Shandong Province. The success of the library encouraged him to open another one in Beijing. These experiences have provided Pan Yueyong with an interesting and financially rewarding career.

"Profit is not our first aim, because after all we're not a book store. People can read here with very low fees. But we also have other services, like selling books, holding readers salons, or providing information services, with which we can easily make ends meet," he said. 

With only one yuan, or 12 U.S. cents people can read for a whole day. And if you have a yearly card, you can read here everyday with one tenth of the above price.

Pan Yueyong has an ambitious plan to open 1,000 community libraries in China, not to make money, he says, but to help raise the cultural understanding, and intellect of Chinese people.

"The library sector needs the support of all sectors of society. Libraries are the best ways to raise people's knowledge level and to develop society," said Pan.

(CRI.com January 18, 2005)