Guests pose for a group photo at the celebration event in Nantong. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

April 29 marks the sixth anniversary of the founding of the Nantong Overseas Chinese Library.

This library, established through donations from overseas Chinese and their families from over 50 countries, has collected 150,000 books and set up nearly 200 bookcrossing stations in 64 countries.

Since its establishment in 2018, the Overseas Chinese Library has been managed and serviced by volunteers, making it the only privately-run public library in China and a successful example of contemporary philanthropy following the ideals of Zhang Jian (1853-1926), a renowned patriot, industrial magnate, educator, and philanthropist in Nantong.

In 2021, during communications with overseas Chinese communities and Chinese language schools, Zhen Xian, founder of the library, learned about that overseas readers still face issues such as limited book availability and slow updates for Chinese-language books. This realization led to the idea of establishing overseas bookcrossing stations. Zhen said, "Especially for the second and third generations of overseas Chinese who were born and raised abroad, creating a Chinese language environment by reading Chinese books is a crucial part of their Chinese language learning."

Soon, overseas bookcrossing stations were established in multiple countries, now totaling 135, with five of them either already upgraded or in the process of becoming local Chinese libraries.

Furthermore, the Overseas Chinese Library plans to establish 500 bookcrossing stations globally by its 10th anniversary, including 10 overseas public cultural facilities, and to establish a comprehensive service system for the construction of overseas bookcrossing stations.