Sunlight filtered through the curtains. Chants from The Book of Songs filled the café. A woman stood in front of an audience of 10 people， sharing her appreciation of the beauty of poetry. Members of the audience each had a cup of tea. Each agreed with the speaker or aired their different points of view. In the café， the discussion group slowed down their pace of life.

Guo Xin， 26， is one of them. Guo has worked in the advertising industry for four years since graduating from college. She is always rushing to meet deadlines and customers keep changing their requirements. Guo said， “I’m stressed very much. I cherish my college days when I was able to read poetry in the morning. It put my mind at ease.” An increasing number of young people have turned to public salons. These events are usually held in cafés. Besides relieving stress， young people are able to acquire knowledge about new subjects and find kindred spirits at the same time.

Hu Wei has designed a series of courses for people in the culture industry or those who are interested in it. The courses include workshops on editing books， photography， drawing， reading， and a variety of interesting topics.Hu explained the inspiration for the public salon， “Like many workplace newbies， during the first three years of my career， I felt I lacked knowledge and skills and wanted further training.”

Reducing the cost of learning is an important reason behind the boom in public salons. Huang Mou， 22， a fresh college graduate， came up with the idea of inviting grass-roots experts online to be lecturers. “Anyone can be an inspiring lecturer as long as he or she probes into a specific area deep enough，” said Huang. And he has discovered many such grass-roots experts on douban.com. So Huang established “Open Douban Courses”. Having read Huang’s notice， some douban.com users have volunteered to be the lecturers for various topics: Western literature， Chinese history， dance culture， and psychology. They share book lists online， and give lectures offline at cafés.

Jiang Hui， 22， a student from Beijing Foreign Studies University， has wide interests. She cannot find relevant optional courses or school clubs for some interests. Jiang finds public salons attractive. “At public salons， I can meet people from all walks of life. It’s more interesting and inspiring to talk to different people，” said Jiang. Jiang is ambitious for a career in the field of intellectual property rights of high-end brands. She has met people from arts design and fashion marketing industries at salons. They have offered her useful inside information.

陽(yáng)光透過窗簾照進(jìn)來，咖啡廳里縈繞著《詩(shī)經(jīng)》的吟誦聲。一位女士站在10名聽眾前面，分享著自己對(duì)詩(shī)歌之美的賞析。聽眾們每人一杯茶，或?qū)Πl(fā)言者表示贊許，或是提出自己的不同看法。在咖啡店里，該討論小組放慢了自己的生活節(jié)奏。

26歲的郭欣是他們中的一員。大學(xué)畢業(yè)后，郭欣在廣告業(yè)已工作了4個(gè)年頭。她總是急急忙忙趕著按時(shí)交差，而客戶們總是變更他們的要求。郭欣說：“我壓力很大。我很懷念大學(xué)時(shí)光，那時(shí)我可以在早晨讀詩(shī)，這可以放松我的心情?！痹絹碓蕉嗟哪贻p人正開始將注意力投向公共沙龍。這些活動(dòng)通常會(huì)在咖啡廳舉辦。在舒緩壓力的同時(shí)，年輕人還能從一些新話題中獲得知識(shí)并結(jié)交志趣相投的人。

胡偉為文化產(chǎn)業(yè)人士或?qū)υ撔袠I(yè)感興趣的人設(shè)計(jì)了一系列課程。這些課程包括有關(guān)圖書編輯、攝影、繪畫、讀書及多種趣味話題的工作坊。對(duì)于創(chuàng)建公共沙龍的靈感來源，胡偉解釋道：“同不少職場(chǎng)新人一樣，在我剛參加工作的頭三年，我感覺自己缺乏知識(shí)和技能，渴望接受更多的培訓(xùn)?！?/p>

減少學(xué)習(xí)開支是公共沙龍盛行背后的一個(gè)重要原因。22歲的應(yīng)屆大學(xué)畢業(yè)生黃牟想到一個(gè)主意，那就是邀請(qǐng)一些網(wǎng)絡(luò)草根專家來做講師。“只要對(duì)某一特定領(lǐng)域的研究夠深入，任何人都能成為一位鼓舞人心的講師?！秉S牟說。而且他在豆瓣網(wǎng)上已經(jīng)找到了許多這樣的草根專家。因此，黃牟成立了“豆瓣公開課教室”?？戳它S牟的公告后，一些豆瓣用戶自告奮勇來?yè)?dān)任各種主題的講師，包括西方文學(xué)、中國(guó)歷史、舞蹈文化和心理學(xué)。他們?cè)诰W(wǎng)上分享書單，同時(shí)在咖啡廳中舉辦線下講座。

22歲的蔣惠是一名來自北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)的學(xué)生。她興趣廣泛，卻找不到與某些個(gè)人興趣有關(guān)的選修課程或校園社團(tuán)。蔣惠覺得公共沙龍具有吸引力?！霸诠采除埳希夷苡龅礁餍懈鳂I(yè)的人。跟不同的人交流更有趣味，也更讓人受啟發(fā)。”蔣惠說。蔣惠十分渴望能夠在高端品牌的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)領(lǐng)域工作。在沙龍上，她遇到了來自藝術(shù)設(shè)計(jì)和時(shí)尚營(yíng)銷行業(yè)的人們。他們?yōu)樗峁┝擞杏玫臉I(yè)內(nèi)信息。