Rural outlets making their mark with cultural advances
Elegantly designed bookstores with unique cultural features are emerging in China’s remote ancient villages, creating cultural spaces for locals as well as so-called cultural brands that attract urban residents.
Cheng Sanguo, director of the Bookdao New Publishing Institute, a consultancy for the domestic publishing and book selling industry, said that in recent years bookstores have become “brands” for some relatively unknown villages located deep in mountains and forests.
“We have seen that some bookstores in rural areas have developed quite well, based on the natural scenery and characteristic culture of remote villages. This has also greatly enriched rural cultural life,” he said.
Qian Xiaohua, founder of the bookstore chain Librairie AvantGarde in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, is a firm supporter of rural bookstores, and has already opened three in remote ancient villages.
This year, he plans to open two or three stores, including one in Shaxi, an ancient town in Yunnan province, which is home to the Bai ethnic group.
“Librairie Avant-Garde will go further in building village bookstores to realize the revitalization of rural culture,” he said. “China’s cultural roots are in the countryside. If we want to revitalize our culture, we need to revitalize the countryside first.”
Cheng said many young people in small villages move to urban areas to make a living, leaving the elderly and children behind. Building bookstores in remote villages and creating attractive cultural spaces to attract more people to them can revitalize these areas.
All three village bookstores that Qian has opened offer a combination of unique local culture and natural scenery. Books displayed in them also showcase the cultural characteristics of a specific area.
The latest of his stores to open is in the 640-year-old village of Chenjiapu in Songyang, Zhejiang province. It started operating in June, is 850 meters above sea level, and surrounded by terraced fields, thick bamboo groves and mountain greenery.
More than 20 well-known writers and poets attended the opening ceremony. Since then, they have returned to host cultural events, which have attracted large numbers of people to the small village. The store has also established a working center for writers.
Qian, who grew up in Jiangsu province, said he has a “special feeling” for small villages and their inhabitants.
“The most important thing in opening a bookstore in a remote village is to enlighten people’s minds,” he said, adding that he plans to build at least 10 rural stores in the next five years.
Qian opened the Bishan Bookstore in the village of Bishan, Anhui province, in 2014. The premises were renovated based on Qitaitang, an ancient ancestral hall that lay in a state of disrepair for a long time.
Buildings in the area have white walls and black-tiled roofs. The villages are also home to more than 100 well-preserved houses and ancestral halls dating to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Qian also renovated a cattle shed, transforming it into the Niujuan (Cattle Shed) Cafe, which has been highly successful.
“When I was building the cafe, many villagers came to help with the labor free of charge,” he said. “On the day the bookstore opened, they wore new clothes and drank coffee, which they had never tried before.”
In addition to works of literature and the arts, the store stocks books about rural areas and old titles on local culture, geography, history, customs and crafts.
In four years, the store has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to the village, and the number of establishments providing accommodations has mushroomed — from just two in 2014 to 33.
Zhang Yuan, a photographer in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, said she traveled to the Bishan Bookstore, a distance of about 300 kilometers, just to take a look at it.
“I like the idea of renovating old buildings and integrating them with creative cultural ideas. I also like the connections between people, buildings and natural scenery,” she said, adding that the local traditional cultural products and handicrafts also impressed her.
Qian’s second bookstore, Yunxi Library in Tonglu county, Zhejiang, was built in 2015. It is a nonprofit operation, with all the money made going to the She ethnic group, who live in the county.
Customers can find many She creative cultural products and handicrafts at the store.
Qian said running bookshops in rural areas should not be about making money. For him, it is a mission to serve people in the countryside. He is glad that his stores are not only attracting more people to these villages, but have also become “brands” that are helping to boost other businesses in the areas.