In Hainan province, the library floats

SANYA — A coastal resort city in South China, has converted fishing boats into a floating public library.

The so-called Sea Study is the first public library on the island of Ximaozhou, 8 nautical miles west of downtown Sanya, Hainan province.

“A life cannot be called life without books,” said Chen Muhu, 78, a fisherman who was browsing archaeology books in the library.

Pyramid-shaped Ximaozhou Island is home to 4,000 residents, but it has only one primary school.

“Locals needed a library badly,” said Qin Jiayi, the instigator of the project. “We see quite a few readers every day.”

More than 30 fishermen spent four weeks renovating three abandoned fishing boats into a reading cabin, a salon, and a 16-bed hostel.

Qin planned to double the library’s collection to 4,000 books.

Because of limited fishing resources nearby and obsolete equipment, fishermen from Ximaozhou are less dependent on the traditional way of making a living. Twenty-four fishing boats have been taken out of service. Timber from some was made into furniture.

Qin wanted to bring the boats back to life in a different way, with support from the local government.

The library satisfies local people’s needs while making the village more appealing to outsiders, said Jia Peng, a government official.

The government plans to renovate another 21 vessels into theaters, shops and hostels.

“It sounds cool,” said Feng Yuetao, a tourist from the plateau province of Qinghai who wanted to visit the library with his family.

The State Council, China’s Cabinet, made guidelines public on Monday in support of the economic transformation of coal-rich Shanxi province and mapping the way forward.

By 2020, the share of coal mining and processing as a proportion of the province’s industrial output should see a notable decline, and the share of advanced coal production capacity should reach two-thirds of the total, the guideline said.

Shanxi should raise its abilities to exploit coal in clean and efficient ways, and increase its clean energy supply, it said.

The province should also develop new strategic sectors by 2020, raise capital for research and development and become a center for coalbased scientific and technological innovations and commercial applications, as well as a modern manufacturing base and tourism demonstration zone.

Before 2030, the province should create a clean, safe and efficient modern energy system and accumulate experiences in reform that can be replicated elsewhere, the guideline said.

The government will support Shanxi in replacing coal with clean energy, including electricity and natural gas, it said, and the province should seek to create an “ecological civilization” and build a “beautiful Shanxi” by stepping up environmental rehabilitation in mining regions, conducting strict water resource management and pushing for economical energy use.

As of the end of 2015, Shanxi had an estimated 270.9 billion tons of known coal reserves, accounting for 17.3 percent of the country’s total, the thirdlargest reserve after the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regions.

Coal is the main energy source in China, accounting for 62 percent of total energy consumption in 2016. The country is aiming to reduce the share of coal consumption to less than 58 percent by 2020.

of total energy consumption in China last year was fueled by coal.

PHOTOS BY SHA XIAOFENG / XINHUA Left: Children read books at the Sea Study public library on Ximaozhou Island in Sanya, Hainan province, on Friday. Right: The library consists of three boats bound together.