Everyone knows about the stress students are under from their teachers and parents to perform well in their studies. “Have you finished your homework yet?” “Make sure you spend plenty of time revising for tomorrow’s test!” “Do you think you have time to play computer games when you have school tomorrow?” and other similar phrases are all familiar to us. Parents seem to have memorised lists of phrases all designed to encourage (or discourage) their children to sit down and complete their schoolwork.
One particular parent in Xi’an City in Shaanxi Province recently decided to express her desire for her daughter to do well in another, rather unusual way. Mrs Li’s daughter studies at her local middle school. Whilst the daughter seemed to be reading books on a regular basis, her mother had become concerned that she was reading books mechanically; reading them like a machine and not taking in the real content and meaning of each book.
It was as if the daughter had a list of books to read and was simply looking at the words on the pages and then ticking the books off the list once she had completed them. What could she do to help? She had what she thought was a great idea.
Mrs Li owns a coffee shop. It’s a coffee shop with lots of space. She was also aware that there were many old books around town that were waiting to be thrown away. She began collecting as many of them as she could and storing them. When she had collected about four tonnes of old books, she started to build a six-metre tall artwork in the shape of a water well.
It took about one month to finish the job. The bookwell has become a place of major interest for everyone living in the town. Nobody is sure whether or not it will stay there or if it will be taken down, but it has certainly been good for attracting new customers into the coffee shop.
Mrs Li’s efforts have been reported widely in the media. However, no-one has reported whether or not her daughter has been encouraged to stop reading mechanically and to start reading for the simple joy of reading.
The Bookwell was not the only tunnel of books in Xi’an:
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