PREFACE
Spring is imperceptibly back again to warm our hearts and souls. We may, in this season of revival, devote our precious time to a good book and embark on a journey of spiritual growth in tranquillity. Apart from reading, we can also complete the spiritual journey with our devotion to a reading related good cause. In this issue of Books and the City, we offer busy urbanites an ideal option: volunteering at the library.
I remember that early last year a friend of mine resigned to work as a short-term volunteer librarian at Xinxiang Library, a privately-owned charity library in Maichong Village, which is situated at the highest point of the mountain behind Golden Temple Park in Kunming. As far as I saw from the photos she sent me, the library looks like a true paradise hidden in a province said to be named for its southern location with colourful clouds wafting, with the transformed Zuocang Garden, a Buddhist temple, a tea house and some farmland. Toiling all their lives, many people probably wish for nothing but a place as remote and idyllic as that. At that moment I thought volunteering, especially volunteering at a library with books as companions, could also bring me immense joy regardless of money or age.
Therefore, the Feature of this issue will be looking at our city, Macao, where many lovely people are glad to devote their precious time to library services. All of them are volunteering with the same benevolence, the same spirit of giving back to society, despite their ages and different walks of life – some making good use of their own strengths, others learning from working at old age or joining in with youthful fearlessness. Perhaps it may come to your mind that a group of selfless volunteers have been quietly working all day long behind the slightly disordered bookshelves. It is impossible for us to know whether ‘Paradise will be a kind of library’, but we can definitely say that volunteers are indeed the ‘guardians of Paradise’, radiating light with their selfless love and devotion.
The Author's Say of this issue features our interview with the production team of The Fairy Tales from the World of Chaos, the book which is based on the original local theatrical production of the same name with illustrations and music integrated. Interestingly, the book was published by Gusa Publishers of Taiwan although it was entirely created by authors and illustrators from Macao, which has resulted in an intercultural and interregional exchange adding a wider scope to the book than the original performance.
As always, we have brought to our readers ten selected book reviews excellently written by authors from Greater China. Let us try exploring the secrets behind the books from their very different backgrounds and perspectives!