Taipei, April 13 (CNA) After three years of preparation, the Taichung Social Affairs Bureau unveiled Taiwan's first multicultural library for immigrants on Friday.

The library will offer over 5,000 books, newspapers, and magazines from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Nepal and othercountries to cater to the needs of the 50,000 foreign immigrants in thecity of 2.67 million people.

Many immigrants from those countries celebrated the new libraryby attending its opening ceremony dressed in traditional costumes.

Taichung Mayor Jason Hu said at the ceremony that as the world becomes increasingly globalized and international, it is important to "open one's heart."

Not only should people introduce their cultures to others, they should also accept different cultures and show tolerance, Hu said.

The mayor hoped the new library would help new immigrants overcome their homesickness, and that mothers would bring their children to the library and read stories to them so that they might understand how their grandparents lived.

Lu Yen-chun, a woman from Indonesia who married a Taiwanese man 10 years ago, said she was really happy to have finally found a library that offered books in Indonesian.

Another immigrant, Li Shu-ling from Cambodia, said that since moving to Taiwan 8 years ago to get married, she had only returned to her home country once and was overjoyed to see books and magazines from Cambodian.

The Taichung Social Affairs Bureau will also be offering a book exchange service, called "mobile train," which will ship books for exchange directly to neighborhood communities that register, said Wang Xiu-yan, the bureau's director.

Books will even be given to children living in poverty, and the bureau will continue to ask the public to donate toys, books, and picture books to help build up the mobile library's content, Wang added.

(By Chen Ching-ping and C.J. Lin)
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