Balance

When pushing red doors, that is the forth floor of academic building in The City University of Hong Kong (City U), the same floor where Run Run Shaw Library is located, but first come into mind may be the crowd of people and noise; almost no difference between shopping in Mongkok on Sunday. Passing through the throng of people who are waiting for their friends or classmates, barely walk to the entrance of the library. Yet, at that moment getting into library, suddenly in silent and without any sounds, it makes people to wonder if having a hearing problem. However, this peaceful place acts like a shelter for people to escape from the busy day.

      If keep walking alongside, a jungle, with a great deal of lofty stacks, which are in rectangular shape, can be found. The books on the shelves are various in colors and different in sizes, from pocket size to giant size; such as assorted fruits on trees, what people have to do is grab what they want; but each fruit on the trees is unique, sometimes they want to have peach instead of an orange, they have to find out where it is in this huge jungle. Fortunately, searching engines can help; it likes a sign on the trees, telling what kind of fruits they have. While come closer to the target, the smell of books is getting stronger and guides people to the right position. “Ding-dong…Ding-dong…”a sound of “bingo” comes out of the brain immediately. Finally, the pickers can pick their favourite fruit and taste it. Sometimes, the fruit is not ripe and tastes sour, they will know that they have picked a wrong one. After choosing the fruits, it would be great to take a seat and enjoy the sweet. Nearby the jungle, there is a gray castle.

      Surrounded by low stacks in gray, this circular area looks like independent from others and creates a private walled castle – protecting people from disturbance. It is an area for students to study individually, where is not allowed chatting. Some of the students are taping on laptops;...