The Bookman

By Ron Rossi

The Bookman

By Ron Rossi

LI SHIGONG

There is a bookman here in Beijing.You will find him every day in the same location, sitting outside Tim’s Texas Barbeque near Beijing’s Silk Market.He does not have a store. He does not sell from a street kiosk. Instead he spreads out his blanket on the street and sets up his shop.

There he sits day in and day out. He sets up by 9 a.m. and won’t leave his spot until about 10 p.m., long after the last people have gone home.

People stop by from time to time to take a look at his books. The books might not be current, but they are in good condition. He also prices them fairly. Never more than what would be about $2-5 depending on the size and subject of the book.

Come the good weather he arrives to his location every day. In the winter when it gets too cold and damp to spend long days on the ground he leaves. He sits there all day long until he can no longer stay outside. He spends his days reading his books. He told me once that he has read every book he sells. And since they are all in English, he has taught himself English along the way.

He tries to practice on people as they walk by and maybe take a look at him and his books. He says “Hello” and hopes they will stop by. Most of the time, they don’t.

When he said “Hello” to me one day,I stopped. I went over to him and shook his hand and said “Hello” back. He asked where I was from and I told him the United States.

I looked at his books and then said it was time to go. As he said good-bye and I knew I would see him again.

And so I did.

Every time I walked by his space, I would stop and say Hello. Whether it was early in the morning as I headed to the gym, or late in the evening, there he would be. He would have a smile on his face no matter what. And it made you smile too.

He is a special man.

The fi rst thing you notice is not the books he has spread out around him. No, the first thing you notice is that he has no legs. He sits on what would I guess be the stump of his lower half, squarely on the ground behind his blanket of books.

In good weather he wears a short sleeve shirt. In colder weather a jacket. And he always has a baseball cap on to protect his head.

He is also missing the tops of the fi ngers of his right hand. At fi rst you don’t notice it because he readily extends his hand to you.Only when you have it in your hand do you realize that his fingers do not wrap around your hand as in a normal grip.

I had always wondered how he set up his shop and one day I was lucky enough to see.

The owner of the restaurant he sits opposite picks him up off his specially designed motorized bicycle cart and rests him on the ground after fi rst laying out the blanket.

Then the person helping him takes the boxes off the cart and puts them next to him.With everything around him, he sets up his shop and waits, and smiles, and picks up a book to read.

I once asked him how many books a week he reads. He said he couldn’t remember but it must be close to 10 a week. He is always reading. And when you fi gure he might spend up to 14 hours a day at his blanket, it is surely possible to read 10 or more books.

I also asked him where he got his supply of books. He said they came from people who were moving or had fi nished a book and wanted to get rid of them. As long as the book was in good shape he would take it.

Naturally, from time to time I gave him a book. I did receive a few books from him in return. When I fi nished reading them, I would give them back to him to sell. It was like having a library. I would borrow a book, read it,give it back and select another.

I gave him about 20 books I read when I fi nally moved back home to the United States in 2011. He was very grateful to receive the box of books. And naturally he asked if I wanted any in return.

I now travel back and forth every month,working for several clients in Beijing. I always bring a book to read on the plane, and,when I am fi nished, I bring it to my bookman.In return, I receive a book to read when I go home.

The author is an American traveling regularly between China and the United States