China ‘warmest library’ welcomes homeless, honours late regular with statue

Hangzhou Library, located in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, is affectionately dubbed “the warmest library” because it opens its doors to beggars and scavengers, even featuring a statue of one such individual. Notably, it was the first library in the country to welcome readers without requiring a library card, providing free access to all. When this inclusive policy was initiated in 2008, a reader expressed concerns to the director about the presence of beggars and scavengers in the…