Blind man encourages others to love books
Print Edition
Zhang Fubin may be blind, but he has instilled a love of reading in many people.
For 17 years, residents in Nanchangchi, a village in north China’s Shanxi Province, have enjoyed free access to his “House of Sunshine” library of more than 5,000 books.
Zhang, now 68, lost his sight when he fell ill in 1983. His family took him to hospitals in Taiyuan, Shanxi’s capital, and Beijing, but doctors could do nothing.
“I entered the hospitals with hope, and left in tears,” he recalled. “At first I could see dim light, but later everything disappeared from before my eyes.”
At the end of that year, two officials from the local civil affairs bureau visited and gave him 200 yuan (US$30), which was not a small amount at that time. They encouraged him to open a mill, so he did.
Several years later, Zhang heard on the radio about a farmer, Zhao Rongsheng, who had opened a village library. “That sounded like a good idea,” he said.
He located Zhao and with his help contacted the Yuxian county government, which donated 2,000 books. Other companies and individuals donated another 1,000. Zhang converted his courtyard into a place where people could sit and read.
Today, Zhang’s House of Sunshine has become a favorite place for children in the village, while some young people have stopped playing cards and now read books again. Zhang has spent more than 16,000 yuan adding books to the library.
Pointing at a box full of check-out slips, Zhang said he was satisfied. “I can’t read the characters myself, but I am happy all the same to know others are reading my books.”
China is home to about six million blind people. As the country develops, they are finding life getting easier.
In the past many could only get jobs as massagists, but now they have bigger dreams. At a vocational school for the blind in north China’s Shanxi Province, students when asked what they wanted to be replied “writer,” “teacher,” “lawyer” and “historian.”
“Blind students are equally intelligent,” said Zhang Yongliang, the school’s headmaster. “May society be more tolerant toward them and give them a broader stage.”
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