Stranger gives fiction

Zhou Pan reads books during his 50-minute subway journey and likes to share his books with others who are interested in reading. Photo provided to China Daily

A Chinese proverb says that one can only read a book earnestly when it is borrowed. A booklover in Shanghai is attempting to encourage reading by lending his books freely to strangers on the subway.

It is common to see subway passengers staring at their cellphones instead of reading a real book on their commute.

But Zhou Pan, 27, from Jingmen in Central China's Hubei province, insists on reading real books during his 50-minute journey from Weininglu to Guanglanlu station on Shanghai's metro line 2.

"Last year, when I looked at my shelves overloaded with books, I made up my mind that I would not buy any new books until I read through all of them," he says.

He did not fulfill the goal but came up with the idea of sharing them with others.

Zhou posted a list of 136 books in the social networking site Sina Weibo and declared that anyone could choose a book from the list and appoint the time and venue between the two stations on metro line 2, so he could hand over the book on his commute.

The message was forwarded more than 200 times and received 139 comments on the microblog, however, those who actually requested books were few.

"Only 10 percent of those who paid attention to the message borrowed books, although all of them said it was a good idea. Perhaps it was because most people do not read real books today," he says.

The Chinese Academy of Press and Publication recently released a survey that said people between the ages of 18 and 70 read 4.39 books in 2012, far fewer than people in Western countries.

Zhou, who works in a marketing department at a company, offered to lend books to his colleagues but they were not interested, but the free book-lending project attracted some genuine booklovers.

Fan Chenfang, a 32-year-old booklover who works in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, asked to borrow a book. Zhou sent the book to her through the mail.

"I want to show my support for him. There might be some free libraries but not many people have time to visit them. Zhou has hit upon a novel way to get reading material to booklovers. I hope the project can extend outside Shanghai to more cities," she says.

Fan only reads real books and she reads at least seven books a month.

"Zhou asked me to keep the book as a present. I offered to mail him one as a gift in return but he refused. He is really nice and generous," she says.

So far Zhou has lent 68 books since he posted the message on May 5. Seven borrowers returned the books.

"I did not set any deadline for returning the books. Actually I won't complain if they do not return them. I believe they are booklovers and will keep the books well," he says.

Zhang Shuangzhu, 34, has borrowed Zhou's books twice and found the process very convenient.

"I spend 2.5 hours on subway to my workplace, the Pudong International Airport. I would like to read on the long journey but I am too busy to go to the library," she says.

Zhang says when she first saw the message she wanted to try but hesitated. "Maybe that's because nowadays people are not inclined to trust strangers or accept their good will."

Zhang first contacted Zhou on Weibo and the two agreed on meeting at the Guanglanlu station after work. She borrowed an essay by a former Chinese journalist. But there was not much chat or discussion on the book during the handover, simply "thanks" and "you are welcome", and the two soon disappeared in the evening rush hour crowds.

Zhou explained that he tried not to appear prying. "I do not want to give the impression that I had some hidden purpose, after all, we were still strangers. Besides, we were in a hurry."