In late April, at the turn of spring and summer, in the Shang Shu Yuan in Nantong Tangzha, Lucy, a tanuki cat who had just taken a nap, stretched out comfortably. In the four years since its opening, the bookstore has successively welcomed three stray cats, and they are taken in by Chen Wenyuan, who has been operating the book industry for more than 20 years.
Opening a bookstore and creating a habitat for the soul is the ultimate dream of many book lovers. Half a century later, he still holds the feelings of childhood and uses the wealth accumulated in his youth to realize his dreams. On April 21, just before World Book Day, Chen Wenyuan told the Modern Express reporter about the warm people and things he had encountered over the years.
△ Chen Wenyuan, the owner of the bookstore who is reading
"Go, open the bookstore!"
For Chen Wenyuan, the bookstore is a complex that spans the river of years.
He was born in Dingyan Town, Rugao City, to parents who were native farmers. Grandpa's hands are very dexterous, and when he is free, he will play straw shoes and go to the river to touch the snail lion. Every few months, he would take his grandson to the city to catch up with the salt exchange, which became the best memory of Chen Wenyuan's childhood.
Small book stalls propped up along the street are hung with comic strips all over the wall. No need to shout or advertise, as soon as the small book stall opened, it was full of children who came with them. Hand over two cents and you'll be able to choose a book you like. As long as you like, you can always watch the sun set on the small bench.
There are no books at home, and parents don't care whether their children like to read Journey to the West or Shelley's poems. The "freedom to read" that can only be realized when rushing to the market has made Chen Wenyuan's heart plant a yearning for opening a bookstore early. "At that time, the idea was very simple, I longed to have a room full of books in the future, and I could read whatever I wanted." Chen Wenyuan said.
After graduating from high school, he took advantage of the spring breeze of reform and opening up to start running shopping malls and accumulated the first wealth of his life. Just as his business was doing well, a sudden news changed the trajectory of his life - the policy gradually loosened the restrictions on private capital to open bookstores. This is an irresistible temptation for Chen Wenyuan.
Go, open a bookstore! Since 1998, Chen Wenyuan has devoted all his energy to the book industry. "First I wholesaled books in Textile City, and after working there for more than a year, I moved to the Southern Wholesale Market. He also worked in the Southern Wholesale Market for only a year, and then moved to Wangfujing Underground Book City and opened it for a while on Taowu Road. The underground book city has been the longest, from 2003 to 2017. Chen Wenyuan recalled.
The Wangfujing underground book city in his mouth is no stranger to every old Nantong person. This Nantong Book City, hidden in the underground shopping mall by the Haohe Friendship Bridge, was once the most lively book wholesale trading center in Nantong. Here, the unique ink fragrance of books has accompanied Chen Wenyuan for more than ten years. Here, he made a lot of like-minded friends.
In 2019, Chen Wenyuan came to Tangzha Ancient Town and opened the current Shang Shu Yuan. The typical architectural style of the Republic of China era retains the appearance of a hundred years ago, and naturally exudes a classical atmosphere that makes people feel at ease. Here, Chen Wenyuan felt closer and closer to his dream.
Bookstores have long been more than just bookstores
Can you make money just by selling books? Chen Wenyuan gave a negative answer - in the current impact of e-commerce, it is almost impossible for physical bookstores to rely on selling books to achieve break even. In order to open this bookstore, Chen Wenyuan invested about one million yuan in decoration and book purchases, and he also needed to continue to bear the rent of water and electricity and labor costs on a daily basis.
In recent years, city bookstores have already begun to experiment in different directions. Chen Wenyuan's bookstore is no exception, selling coffee and tea, which has become the "standard" of bookstores. In addition to regularly inviting experts to hold cultural salons to attract readers, he also renovated the unused space of the bookstore to carry out activities in the rented out space.
You can read a book, you can drink tea, or you can chat behind closed doors. Such a bookstore has become the preferred choice for many units for team building. Chen Wenyuan also regularly holds public welfare book clubs and Sinology recitations, although they do not make money, but they can add a little more popularity to the store.
Different from ordinary restaurants and coffee shops, the diversified business model of bookstores often encounters voices of doubt and is in a slightly awkward situation. "Under the guise of selling books, I make a meal." "The bookstore has changed its flavor now." People seem to naturally have idealized expectations of bookstores.
The covid-19 pandemic in 2020 disrupted the bookstore's original rhythm. In order to cooperate with the prevention and control of the epidemic, bookstores open to the public will need to close from time to time. Since the end of March 2022, Shang Shuyuan has been closed for more than a month. This has put many of Chen Wenyuan's plans on hold for the time being, "We are trying to find new development directions, such as online book clubs." ”
Over the years, what is the motivation for Chen Wenyuan to persevere? Chen Wenyuan gave a two-word answer - "faith". Belief allows him to maintain motivation and allows him to refuse to "lie flat" and try to break through. "Now I can freely choose books and read books every day, compared to when I was a child who could only borrow comic strips." Chen Wenyuan said.
Paper books are still irreplaceable for them
Are you still reading?
When hearing this question, Xiao Jiang opened the mobile phone screen after 00. He has a lot of reading software and has bought e-book readers. On the virtual bookshelf of the simulation page, there are many famous works. "In fact, many books have zero reading progress." He said with some embarrassment. As a student, he has more free time and leeway. Sometimes he would put his phone in his bag and shut himself in the library to read.
"In fact, reading e-books will make me a little anxious, and I will look at the phone's battery from time to time and be interrupted by information reminders." Xiao Jiang said that once reading paper books enters the state, attention will be more concentrated and the reading efficiency will be higher.
But for the faster-paced working party, reading paper books has become a bit of a "luxury." The writer "Lingmeng" told reporters that work occupies most of her life, and she mostly uses the fragmented time before taking the subway or going to bed to read books. For convenience, she now basically uses reading software and has opened a lot of annual memberships.
Lingmeng said that the bookstore is still a place that she yearns for. In the physical bookstore, walking through two or three bookshelves, she could always find the books she wanted to read. "The neatly arranged books, the touch of paper books, will make you feel the peace of mind, but also arouse your desire to read." 」 She said.
Perhaps it is precisely because there are so many readers who still maintain a love of paper books that physical bookstores can survive the cold winter. According to the "2020-2021 China Physical Bookstore Industry Report", even in 2020, when the epidemic occurred, China still opened 4061 new bookstores and closed 1573 bookstores, and the number of newly opened bookstores reached 2.6 times the number of closures. The recent survey results of the reading status of residents in Jiangsu Province in 2021 show that in 2021, the reading rate of paper books by residents in Jiangsu Province will be 71.72%, and the per capita reading volume of paper books will be 5.78.
For Chen Wenyuan, such feelings are also more direct and warm. In his bookstore, there are often readers who have the same original intentions and feelings as him. There is a Mr. Lu who is engaged in the home textile business in Nantong Haimen, who will drive tens of kilometers every once in a while, and specially come to his shop to buy books, spending hundreds or even thousands of yuan each time. There are also young female teachers who have participated in the activity to work as a clerk in the bookstore for a day, and after returning home, they specially wrote a long article to express their feelings, and subscribed to the bookstore for a year's "Reading Library".
These readers, who are busy in reality, regard Chen Wenyuan's bookstore as a harbor of the soul, pinning their respective love and ideals for reading, and doing their best to continue the life of physical bookstores with practical actions. These warm little things have also become the pillar for Chen Wenyuan to persist. Chen Wenyuan remains optimistic about the future, as his favorite poet shelley wrote when he was young - "If winter comes, will spring be far away?" ”