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China

Newspaper collector keeps "diary" of China

2019-02-14 09:25:52

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Liu Yuzhi, a retiree in Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou province, has collected more than 500,000 newspapers in his self-built libraries, China Daily reported Wednesday.

Liu, 77, who used to work as an employee with the Guiyang Municipal Bureau of Grain, keeps a wide range of "precious" newspapers such as the Xuantong Time Gazette of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), and the first and final issues of different newspapers from the last century.

Other interesting pieces from his collection include a People's Daily edition printed on silk material and news pages printed on an umbrella.

Liu started to develop his hobby into a serious "career" in 1964 when a colleague told him that the first issue copy of Guizhou Daily he bought from a flea market was of high value. From then on, he continuously collected newspapers mainly from subscriptions, antique markets and recycling stations.

At first, not everyone understood his hobby-turned "career," including his wife Jiang Xuemei.

"To collect newspapers, he went through waste and rubbish nearly every day," Jiang said. "I only saw him at night. My friends made fun of me marrying a garbage collector."

As his newspaper collections grew, Liu bought 4 hectares of land in 2007 and built three libraries on his own. The project finished at a cost of more than 1 million yuan (about 149,253 U.S. dollars) in 2012. Since they were opened to the public, some 8,000 people have visited his three libraries for free.

Jiang now understands her husband. "There was an old man who recently visited our library a couple of times, and I saw him burst into tears while reading the old newspapers," Jiang recalled. The man said the newspaper reminded him of his youth.

Liu now spends six hours in reading newspapers each day and then sorts out his collections with his wife, gives tours to scholars and artists, and follows up on leads about old newspapers through his nationwide online group.

Liu has held a couple of themed exhibitions. He plans to organize an exhibition in Guiyang by way of gathering all the reports about the liberation of provincial capital cities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in October.

Liu has a daughter and two sons. He hopes that his daughter, a 51-year-old teacher, can succeed him. "These paper publications are the diary of our country," he said. "To keep them is to record history."

Editor:Jiang Yiwei