(Ecns.cn)--Four years ago, as most graduates rushed to career fairs, Li Yingqiang, who had just got his master's degree from Peking University, gave up an opportunity to stay and work in Beijing. Instead, he returned to his home county to realize a long-held dream – to build more libraries in China's rural areas.
The dream has helped the 32-year-old man set up 13 libraries in rural areas in eight provinces, including Hubei, Henan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hebei, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Chongqing and Shaanxi. According to Li, there will be more to come.
"If I believe a thing is right, I will take action to do it," said Li, who wears light grey clothes and a pair of blue slippers. Sitting in the sunshine holding his one-year-old daughter, one would hardly imagine that he was a knowledgeable library founder.
The year before graduation, Li got a chance to go to a village in Henan Province to do some research. On the train there, Li brought up the topic of the development of China's villages with his peers. They talked about the general decline, and many mentioned the decay of spiritual life in their own villages or counties.
The discussion reminded Li of a series of reports on the decline of Chinese villages, especially of the "spiritual" kind. "I read almost all the reports, and it seemed that every village was reversing spiritually. I wanted to do something to stop it," he recalled.
Since leaving his hometown of Qingshi, Hubei Province, in 1997, Li has only had a few chances to go back, but the decline of his hometown was notable. "Before I left Qingshi there were a few bookstores and also a State-owned bookshop, where I once bought many classic novels."
But now the bookstores have been replaced by sordid Internet clubs, and the books sold in the State-owned bookshop are mainly teaching materials and science books which are hard for young students to understand.
"Economic development did not bring much improvement to people's minds there, and the decay of the village can be found everywhere," added Li.
On the way back from that journey, Li vowed to his peers that he would go back to his hometown and build a library for the people there. "A good library can serve as an excellent university. I grew up in the village and have a responsibility to go back and 'save' them," proclaimed Li.
Li's decision received wide support, and not long after he went back to school and began planning his first library.
Li decided on "Li Ren" as the general name of the library, which means to inspire the young generation and help them form a positive attitude towards life. Collecting money to buy books and working out a proper book list for different students were the most difficult tasks for Li. He contacted the academic circle and asked opinions on the Internet, and finally collected a list of 2000 kinds of books for students.
The first financial donation came from a friend, who also helped design the logo of the library. After awhile, more money came in. Through the help of people who were close to him in Qingshi, Li was able to meet the president of the Qingshi middle school, who agreed to allow Li to open a new library there.
At the end of December 2007, Li's first library was opened to students at the school and named "Huang Kan library." Later, another seven libraries were also given new names, mostly after famous people in the area. Huang Kan was a modern master of Chinese culture born in Qingshi, for example.
The opening day attracted many students who flooded into the library after class. The popularity of the library was beyond Li's expectation. After a month, he had to limit the number of students each day as news of the library spread.
