From nine deaths to today's Internet celebrity bookstore, Wang Jun, the "Guangling craftsman", has broken the prejudice that modern people think that physical bookstores are difficult to operate. Now he not only wants to make his border city bookstore "live", but also wants to make the bookstore more influential, so that more people can understand China's excellent traditional culture.
A dream in ten years
Wang Jun / Image from "Yangzhou Traffic Broadcasting"
"In this world, all people of true temperament always think differently. In 1934, Shen Congwen wrote such a passage in "Border City". Looking back at Wang Jun's experience over the years, he seems to be such a true person.
When he was in college, Wang Jun studied law at Nanjing Institute of Food Economics (now Nanjing University of Finance and Economics), and after graduation, he became a newspaper editor by accident, and later worked as an accountant for a period of time. After working in Nanjing for a few years, Wang Jun fell into a period of professional confusion, and he wanted to do something he really liked, so he quit. But his resignation did not point out the direction of his future life, but turned him from confusion to depression. At the most embarrassing time, Wang Jun did not even have a place to settle in Nanjing. Fortunately, at this time, his college classmates lit a bright light for him and invited him to live with him.
"My college classmate was a police officer, and he was busy with work and preparing for graduate school, and even if others told him to go out to play, he wouldn't change his study plan. In Wang Jun's description, this classmate is an extremely self-disciplined person, and it is his self-discipline and persistence that silently influenced Wang Jun and gave him the courage to start a business. Because of his love of reading, opening a bookstore has become Wang Jun's first choice. Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, has a deep enough history to be the best city to open a bookstore, but it also means higher costs. Due to practical reasons, Wang Jun could only give up opening a store in Nanjing and move to Yangzhou.
In 2008, Wang Jun's Border City Bookstore made its debut in Yangzhou, specializing in literature, history and philosophy. He originally thought that there would be no white dings in the vicinity of Yangzhou University, and he would not worry about selling books, but the reality was that there were few people who came, and the monthly turnover of several thousand yuan was not even enough to pay rent, water and electricity bills.
Later, due to the dismal business of the bookstore, Wang Jun had to move the bookstore to the garage of the Liuhu community, where the rent was even lower. As a result, the expenses were reduced, but the floor in the garage was damp and inaccessible. For a long time, Wang Jun was a little disheartened, on the one hand, because of the heartache of watching the books damaged by the tide, and on the other hand, because the bookstore had been operating at a loss for a long time and could not see the future.
How should we solve the problem of operating a bookstore? Wang Jun thought to himself, since it is impossible to sell new books, why not try to find another way and start with ancient books? Therefore, he started the business of ancient books in the bookstore in the border city.
Keep the clouds open and see the moon
Picture from "Yangzhou Traffic Broadcasting"
Wang Jun said: "The more I know about thread-bound books, the more I like them. When I hold an ancient book that is hundreds of years old, I feel like I have traveled through the years and communicated with the ancients. ”
On weekdays, if Wang Jun sees some ancient books he likes, even if he is shy in his pocket, he has to raise money to buy them. In his opinion, the ancient books and papers that have been bitten by insects and rats, after so many years of wind and rain, the kind of moistness in the hand is difficult to replace by other things, and can make people's restless hearts immediately full of tranquility.
Because of his reluctance to leave ancient books out and be treated as garbage, Wang Jun spent hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy thousands of ancient books in a few years. Looking at these broken ancient books, Wang Jun was very distressed and wanted to find a master to restore them, but the high cost of restoration couldn't help but make him difficult. Wang Jun thought to himself: instead of spending money to find others, it is better to try it yourself. In this way, he began to teach himself to restore ancient books with enthusiasm.
Faced with this problem, Wang Jun, who loved books, looked for the answer from the book, and he "spent a huge amount of money" to buy a thick copy of "Illustrated Restoration and Mounting Technology of Chinese Ancient Books", first read it through several times from beginning to end, familiarized himself with the relevant theoretical knowledge, and then slowly began to practice according to the illustrations in the book. Because there is no one to guide him, sometimes a simple step Wang Jun has to ponder three or five times before it is completed. In the end, Wang Jun slowly became famous in the circle with his excellent restoration skills.
"I always remember that the first ancient book restored was the Summary of Cholera in Traditional Chinese Medicine. After careful restoration, although it has taken shape, it has not always met the expected standards. Wang Jun said that sometimes defects are also a kind of beauty, and if he rebuilt them, he would definitely be much better than he was then, but he did not plan to do so. For him, although this ancient book is not perfect, it is a true record of his youthful skills, which is of great significance.
As the only inheritance institution in Yangzhou City for the restoration of ancient books and intangible cultural heritage projects, Border City Bookstore has been doing ancient book restoration for nearly ten years, and Wang Jun has also grown from a "little white" to a "big master" in the industry.
Secondary creation is integrated into life
Cabinet of ancient books in the border city bookstore / picture from "Yangzhou Traffic Broadcasting"
In the process of restoration, Wang Jun looked at the yellowed ancient book fragments in front of him and suddenly came to inspiration, he tried to put the ancient book fragments in his hand on the lampshade of the table lamp on the side, and in an instant the words and light and shadow intersected, quite charming.
This experience made Wang Jun realize that the fragments of ancient books do not necessarily have to be "put back" in their entirety, but can be made into new literary and creative works through secondary creation. Facts have proved that Wang Jun's idea is correct, and the exquisite ancient book lamps, ancient book umbrellas, brocade ash piles, etc. were very popular as soon as they were launched, and soon attracted countless fans. Wang Jun was very pleased to see these former "old friends" begin to integrate into modern life, so the border city bookstore has gradually embarked on a cultural development path based on the restoration of ancient books, featuring ancient book cultural and creative products, and curating and researching ancient books with the theme of ancient books as the core. At present, the main revenue of the bookstore mainly comes from curation, cultural creativity and research, and many libraries and museums in other places have invited Wang Jun to bring ancient books to the exhibition and explanation.
Nowadays, with the continuous growth of ancient book restoration, Wang Jun has opened the Border City Academy in Sanwan Park by the ancient canal, focusing on the theme curation and research of ancient books. "Now the country is paying more and more attention to traditional culture, and the development of our bookstore is given by the good times. Wang Jun said that bookstores have now become "Internet celebrities", and they should be especially grateful for this era. As a craftsman in the new era, Wang Jun is well aware of the difficulties, and he hopes that he can be a teacher and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture.
In the future, Wang Jun will systematically sort out the ancient book culture and ancient book knowledge, and let more people feel the charm of traditional culture in the form of short videos.
Source: "Merry Generation · TOP Youth Business", "Reading Times" Issue 04, 2024
Author: Ji Tianming
Editor: Pan Xi
[Disclaimer: This number is the official public welfare account of "National Reading Promotion", and this article is reprinted for the purpose of conveying more information. If there is a source label error or other inaccuracies, please contact us. We will correct it in a timely manner. Thank you]