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This is a bookworm's sanctuary, climate controlled and mood lit, as if books were aphrodisiacs for the brain. "Your nerves will unwind while your thoughts slip into something more comfortable". Regardless, fuss and bother don't get in. 

At midday a woman comes round and lowers all the blinds. Were they left open the whole room would be lit up with brilliant sunshine. The individual reading lights go on. For the most part this is a dim place, with reading materials illuminated but walkways gloomed in peace and corridors positively dingy with quiet.

If you do find an unblinded window the world beyond is also muted. Though it's a bright day you can see fireworks exploding above the houses as the birthday procession of a Daoist god winds through the town. Closer, an old man in a singlet paces his way back and forth, clapping his hands in front and behind him. A student telling a story has his laughing friends reacting as one, while a stray dog sniffs his way across the courtyard.