Twelve Sinologists from various countries including Spain, Serbia and Iran recently visited Qingxi village in China's Hunan province, to retrace the footsteps of modern Chinese novelist Zhou Libo (1908-79) and explore how local literature resonates on a global scale.

On a project titled Discovering Qingxi on the World Literature Map, the three-day journey brought the Sinologists and Hunan writers together to explore the province's literary roots and discuss the intersection of locality and universality of literature.

Qingxi village is the birthplace of Zhou and the settings of his classic novel, Shanxiang Jubian (Great Changes in a Mountain Village). Today, it has become a popular cultural destination to millions of visitors.

The village features Zhou's renovated former residence, a museum of signed works by contemporary Chinese writers, and 22 reading rooms converted from village homes and operated by local residents. The reading rooms honor various writers, publishers and genres with artifacts and copies of their works. They are popular with both residents and visitors.