Don Vincent
"Happiness is everyone's need." In the main hall of the entrance hall of the Humor Bookstore, the slogan is formed by the combination of five or six lines of hanging curtains. Coming head-on, the spatial and psychological distance is very close. Humor and humor culture, interpreted by the masters and fans of the ancient and modern Chinese and foreign tao, have formed complex origins and social functions in the long history, but in any case, making people happy is the first meaning.
Humor Bookstore Entrance Hall
At noon one day in the autumn of the season, he visited the humor bookstore for the first time. The bookstore opens in the summer and makes a highlight like all new ones. However, unlike the declining popularity of the Internet celebrity bookstore, the time fit of four or five months, the interview reports of the humorous bookstore are continuous, the substantive content is becoming more and more abundant, the books are gathered and the people are laughing, and the attention of book friends and readers is becoming more and more lively. It can be seen that the road is strong, the target is far away, and the road is still very long.
Humor Bookstore
The exterior interior of the bookstore is uniform in color, all based on a bright thick green, from the door face to the poster, overalls, green plants, to the decoration between the bookshelves, the notes of the book, are the same kind of green, a kind of vitality eager to try. From this, humor is a quality extracted from life, and it is also laughed and scolded, and it is also respected and humbled, and it is also a lonely reward and a reveler, and it is always a raw situation.
Flipping through the public number, the recent activity was in late October when Teacher Li Xin talked about "how to express humor" and introduced the book "Sense of Humor". Although I did not participate, I saw the photo of the lecturer laughing at the book in the tweet, as well as the preset course outline, which can be imagined as the scene of the event. Walking in the store, the activity area is set behind the curtain at the door, and the pattern of the stage and the stage can be seen. The author visually estimated that after removing the small movable bookcase, the venue was full of about twenty people. In this way, not only small courses, but also cross-talk, talk shows, drama, etc. can also be carried out, and for most types of activities, the hardware is certainly sufficient. For example, cross-talk is the most suitable place and circle of people in this old teahouse style, if you talk about the big scene of hundreds of thousands of people and sell concert-level tickets, it will deviate from the original meaning of the folk art of the old tianqiao. The intuitive transmission and diffusion of humor should also have its spatial laws.
The interior space of the Humor Bookstore
There are not only single events, but also permanent, such as Mr. Chen Xiaoying (the originator of the Discipline of Chinese Theater Aesthetics and the founder of Comedy World Magazine) introduced by the clerk, and set up a separate special shelf, which is displayed and sold including monographs, translations, editors, periodicals and even books collected at home, which is really rare. The so-called book exhibition Chen, in terms of curatorial thinking, its display is naturally an "exhibition". There is also the "All-Universe Comic Exhibition in Beijing", the theme is more interesting, compared with Chen Xiaoying's special exhibition, he prefers to adult scribes, this is biased towards low and simple, and the different exhibition themes in the same room are suitable and complement each other, taking care of readers of various groups.
Humorous Bookstore's exhibition of Chen Xiaoying's comedy aesthetic works
Diagonally opposite the main entrance, there is a relatively independent room, set up as a special room for comic books, with comic works hanging on the four walls, and a table in the middle dedicated to displaying comic books, and there are small chairs, implying the reading function. Most of the manga here are national comics, with European and American works, and almost no Japanese. I think that the great influence of Nichiman in China is already unshakable, and if you want to "correct the chaos", you must first go too far. Jagged polymorphisms do not depend mainly on the mainstream "same", but on the "different" of those "non-mainstream". Contemporary physical bookstores are endowed with certain media functions, and the media must be endowed with a value tendency and need to be specifically expressed, which is expressed as such as a display in humorous bookstores, and its implicit value orientation is self-evident. Because the content is rare, the style is warm, and full of respect, I cherish this expression.
Bookshelves of the Humor Bookstore are on display
The bookstore is located at No. 108, Jixiangli, ChaoyangmenMen, is a residential community bottom business, sandwiched between the two business districts of Gongti and Youtang-Ritan, from the location, it is the positioning of the community store, and its environment and own temperament are inherently different from the commercial area and scenic bookstore. It is understood that this store site was previously a beauty salon, and further back to the source, it is a small and medium-sized store of Xinhua Bookstore, and the industry is Xinhua Bookstore. Therefore, the store signs have been changed, the appearance is new, but in fact, it is a return to the source. In addition to making books, the culture represented by the word humor is also an important original meaning. Just like the haha mirror everywhere in the store, more than a hundred square meters of the store has placed as many as four, the original function of the haha mirror is to amuse, make people reflect themselves, bring direct laughter, but after historical precipitation and evolution, it has become a symbol of a certain attitude of a certain culture.
Therefore, in addition to the geographical location dimension label of the community bookstore, the humor bookstore is a theme bookstore in terms of content dimension. Corresponding to the theme bookstore, it is a comprehensive bookstore, such as the common Xinhua bookstore, all categories of books are available, which does not reflect the special attention to specialization in some fields, and the bookstore activities do not default to targeted digging in content. The theme bookstore means that there are all aspects of decoration, selection, activities and so on, especially in the content, there is a clear centripetal and focus. For example, general retail demand, such as the purchase of common books and best-selling books, is more likely to be met in comprehensive bookstores, because non-theme books may be screened out in theme bookstores; while professional books, unpopular books, and early editions of books in a certain field are generally difficult to see in comprehensive bookstores, but they may be found in theme bookstores and independent bookstores, such as "Laughing Forest Guangji", "The World Speaks New Language" and all kinds of funny columns. In addition, non-physical online book buying platforms that also have book retail functions are completely different logics, regardless of this.
Humor Bookstore's all-universe comic exhibition in Beijing
In the past era when the general cultural needs of the readers were not high and there was no strong theme concern, comprehensive bookstores had the advantage of "full", and if they could achieve "new", they were invincible, which was undoubtedly more popular with the masses and the market adaptability was stronger. In recent years, cultural demand has undergone several rounds of upgrading, the public for high-quality, refined cultural content has become increasingly significant demand, which is also projected into the physical bookstore industry, a variety of theme bookstores, independent bookstores came into being, and the characteristics of the field has gradually become distinct, and even become the foundation of the establishment. Therefore, the theme bookstore benefits from the theme and also serves the theme. The process of mutual integration and mutual promotion of "form-content" between bookstore carriers and cultural content depends on specific business practices, which is also the process of serving readers with high-quality space and characteristic content.
Every culture or subculture, but where it has a certain social population base, will have its condensed form, forming a physical crystal, or website or magazine or place, involving online and offline virtual entities, and so on. What I have been paying attention to for a long time is the leading role played by various thematic bookstores in various fields of cultural content. For example, the Hangzhou Southern Song Dynasty Bookstore advertises the Song Dynasty, the Beijing Niche Bookstore even publishes bookstores dedicated to poetry, the three themes of the drama poetry movie of the code word people have been like footnotes in the name of the store, and the distinctive signs of the Poetry Shop and the Drama Shop of Shanghai Sinan Bookstore have given enough physical space and spiritual sustenance to lovers of related topics. If a culture does not have a corresponding theme bookstore to endorse it, it is a pity. The humor bookstore is the theme bookstore in such a situation, even in the theme bookstore, it is the first pioneer to speak for humor in the name of humor. What it can do is far more than displaying relevant publications and cultural creations around the word humor, but to excavate and promote humor culture as its own responsibility, culture as the body, store as the use, retail, exhibition, short drama, cultural creation, release, course, curation, etc. The three heads and six arms are complete, and it is constantly expanding and exploring.
A reading space in a bookstore
Writers who are well known for their humorous tone, such as Lao She, Wang Zengqi, Wang Shuo, etc., have long been open in the shop and have been selling for a long time. In addition to writers, there are not many famous artists who can speak for the non-popular cultural theme of humor, Mr. Chen Xiaoying is the best, and there are also the predecessors of the cross-talk industry represented by Mr. Hou Baolin, the TV drama (funny role) actor represented by Ma Dehua (the actor of the Eight Precepts of the Pig in "Journey to the West"), the comedian represented by Chaplin, as the book author, object and humor interpreter, they will not be missed by the humor bookstore, and the related books are also on the shelf, the cover is outward, and it is like talking and laughing in person, and the "laughter" is not ordinary.
Of course, the one who can speak more for humor is the teacher who sets sail. He was the first physical bookstore owner with a theme of humor, a pioneer and practitioner in the field. He was busy for the bookstore and the bookstore's superior company, and before he could eat lunch, he hurried to introduce the bookstore and himself. The eldest brother is a post-70s, has done music, television, publishing and has considerable achievements, with rich experience, throwing off the crown of the past, and now engaged in bookstore front-line work, which should be rare among practitioners. According to the author of the book "What Do I Sing When I Talk About Books", Qihang Teacher was already the vice president of China Bookstore Publishing House in 2014 and knew everything about the publishing industry upstream of bookstores. After more than an hour of chatting, I felt that the teachers of Qihang were modest, dedicated, and enthusiastic, and the foundation of the book industry and physical bookstores was quite solid, and many ideas were still very cutting-edge. Not only did he write his daily bookstore diary, but he also wrote countless explanatory notes in his own handwriting for the books in the store, interspersed between the bookshelf.
The bookstore manager set sail a handwritten book introduction
Regarding "What Do I Sing When I Talk About Books", I also left a short comment in Douban: because the bookstore met the big brother of Qi Voyage, traced the old song from the book, and heard the book sound and book love from the CD. As a musician, he set sail as Yi Heng and is one of the pioneers of local rock and folk music in China. At the end of his career as a full-time musician, he released his album "The Light of the Future", which he published after many years of deep experience in the publishing industry. The album cover is tender green, the color of life, which is also used in this book. This booklet contains 18 original songs, and the creation of a song to interpret a book can be said to have opened up a new realm in the form of book reviews. ...... The avant-garde experimental nature of the genre itself, as well as the consistency of the lyrics and songs of the book, are not only moving, but also destined to have a high specimen value.
The "Xinhua Bookstore" logo at the entrance of the Humor Bookstore
Although the Xinhua label hangs on the door, in the Xinhua Bookstore, the Humor Bookstore has a different look, not only the strong theme of the content, but also the borderless exploration of the form. According to the introduction of Teacher Qihang, and my own guess, this store should be an innovative pilot of the Xinhua bookstore system, starting very high, exploring a new model, and the revenue of a single store is not the end at all. Since the new crown epidemic in 2020, physical bookstores that have not been good in recent years have been repeatedly affected, and even the state-owned enterprise Xinhua has not been good. The humorous bookstore shoulders the mission of exploring the way, and can be regarded as the forefront of the state-owned bookstore system, which can be described as the dawn of the Beijing Xinhua bookstore department.
The parent company of the bookstore is called Xinhua Culture, which is on a par with Beijing Xinhua Bookstore and Foreign Language Bookstore, and the common higher level is Beijing Distribution Group. With the high position of The Teacher of Qi Hang, he personally came to take charge, which shows that this shop is also placed high hopes by the Group. The opening of the humor bookstore is a typical "entrepreneurship within the system". Any career on the right track and the formation of a law will be more relaxed. So I think there are many "successful" people, and very few great people. A great heart will not be satisfied with the status quo all its life, will always explore new realms, constantly change paths, transcend, and therefore will never be easy. Throughout the career of Teacher Qi Hang, he is a non-stop change of path. Every time he changed lanes, he followed the previous road. It was clear, paved the way for the peers, and went to the wilderness to open up a new road.
Another major feature of the humor bookstore is the bookstore diary, which was set sail by the manager to work on the public account "Humor Bookstore", which has been continuously updated so far without a week of interruption. In my impression, the bookstores that insisted on keeping diaries were the bookstore on the other side of Beijing, the Buyi Ancient Bookstore, the Agora Bookstore, the Jagged Bookstore, the Human Food Bookstore in Handan, and so on. Among them, the early diary of the other side of the bookstore has been published and included in "Impressions of Beijing Bookstores" (Yan Bin/Editor-in-Chief, Central Compilation Publishing House, 2016), and its original documentary restores the various explorations and complex mental paths at the beginning of the bookstore's opening on the paper, which is quite moving, but it is the wisdom of Teacher Yan Bin. "Bookstore Diaries" have also existed in foreign countries, Shaun Bethel's "Bookstore Diary" (Republic of Guangxi Normal University, 2019) and "Bookstore Four Seasons: Bookstore Diary 2" (Republic of Beijing Daily, 2021) are very popular in China, and then Nobusuke Yoshitake's "There Is a Bookstore" (CITIC Publishing House, 2018), Petra Hatlib's "My Wonderful Bookstore" (China Friendship Publishing Company, 2017), etc., the real bookstore stories subjectively recorded by bookstore people, including true and trivial, It not only resonates with the hard-working bookstore people, but also satisfies the readers' "outsiders", forming a unique bond. This link between heart and culture has also been repeatedly opened in the humor bookstore, connecting every friend who cares about the bookstore. When the bookstore diary is written in the form of a story, it gets rid of trivialities and can become cultural anecdotes, and the bookstore can also become a cultural scene like a theater, a teahouse, and an editorial department, such as Zhang Hexhui's early work "The History of Chunming", which is based on the professional and life insights of its cultural media people, writing the cultural world of old Beijing, which is also a unique sense of humor in Zhang Shi's novels.
Cultural and creative products in bookstores
Humor is not just a culture, humor can even be a health indicator. People who take the initiative to joke, people who can understand other people's jokes, and people who can smile when they encounter humor, are naturally in a better physical and mental state than those who have sad faces and those who are angry at every turn. If bookstores can help people relax, it is more conducive to cultivating the state of mind of "humor", which is one of the purposes, then its social value is not limited to the cultural level.
Humor itself is contagious, and to spread it is actually a matter of pushing the boat along the waters— the water that is as good as water. Although it is hard to do things, this heart is relaxed. This is a temperament that I intuitively feel from everyone on the team at Humor Bookstore, who also appears in the bookstore diary. In the humorous bookstore series of micro-comedies, the clerk himself starred, the bookstore shot live, and the script was "adapted from the real thing of the store". After watching it, I took off my headphones and covered my mouth and shivered in the office, clicked on the Starring WeChat avatar, and enjoyed it again. They all say that bookstore clerks are omnipotent, but I have also seen for the first time that they can be omnipotent. It can be seen that the infinity of potential is not forced out, but is happy to emerge from it. Voila this smell, written here has been infected.
Humor Bookstore's haha mirror
Less than 400 meters east of the Humor Bookstore, there is a supporting bookstore in the French Cultural Center on Gongti South Road, called the Traveler Banana Bookstore, which is naturally the theme of French culture, and the bookstore is juxtaposed with the library. South of the Jixiangli community, across Chaowai Avenue and Fenglian Square, there is the Hongzhi Study Room in Block B of Youtang International, which is the best public welfare library/café in Beijing. Straddling the East Second Ring Road, within the Galactic SOHO, there is the Shanyuan Library and the Beaver Library. By the way, there are several nearby bookstores for physical bookstores to visit. Since the bookstore is an entity, the linkage of space has become an innate attribute, which cannot be separated from the connection with the "nearby", and even becomes an advantage. For example, a street in Jimbocho, Tokyo, Japan, has become a legend in the book industry. Optimistically, any neighborhood in Beijing is still developing at a rate visible to the naked eye, and the possibility of becoming the next Jimbocho bookstore cannot be ruled out.
Editor-in-Charge: Zang Jixian
Proofreader: Liu Wei