Back from the brink

On June 1, Qian's team transported 20,000 books in a truck from Nanjing to prepare for the launch on June 16 in Chenjiapu. As they approached the village after the 10-hour trip they realized they could go no further because the road was too narrow. After transferring the books to smaller electric tricycles, they were taken another few kilometers until they had negotiated the narrowest part of the road and were then passed on to shop staff members who took them to the shop in a cart.

When Chenjipu Bookstore was being built, some villagers returned from cities to take part in the construction. And Bao says the price of housing rose immediately.

"Nobody used to want to buy a house here even at a low price of 5,000 yuan ($732), but now the annual rent for a house has grown to 3,000 yuan," he says.

Like Wang Shouchang in Bishan Village, Bao has been taken on as a guide at Chenjiapu Bookstore to recount local tales.

Across from the bookshop is a second building that is part of the project, which was originally a residence. Under Qian's plan, writers, poets and artists go to live there, two people for one month at a time. One of the main aims is for them to get a taste of rural life and create works related to the place and their experience there.