At this London corner, the chat's in Mandarin

Mother tongue gives taste of home

Located in the heart of the theater district, the Charing Cross Library has more than 70 years' history, but despite the large Chinese community nearby, there were no Chinese books until the 1980s. Started from a few Chinese books and several shelves, the library now has become the biggest public Chinese library in Britain, with more than 70,000 Chinese books and over 100 kinds of periodicals.

The Chinese corner was established to develop Chinese teaching and learning as well as Chinese cultural exchanges. The program features business Chinese language teaching, dialogue and writing.

More and more British people have realized that knowing Chinese is very important, and China and the Chinese people also like to share their language and culture, said Chichy Li, Chinese service manager of Westminster Libraries and also curator of the Charing Cross Library.

"The Chinese corner is a very good idea, and establishing one in Charing Cross Library is a good initiative, as the library can provide good quality services for the community, which is one of the biggest Chinese communities in Europe," says Mike Clarke, tri-borough director of libraries and archives for the city of Westminster, London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

After learning from the experiences of the first Chinese corner, Clarke says, other communities might be inspired to expand the concept to other public libraries in London and across the country.