Taipei, 21 Sep (China News Service) -- Title: Hengchun floats up a "red balloon" -- visiting a physical bookstore at the southernmost tip of Taiwan Island
China News Service reporter Xing Liyu Yang Chengchen
On the Hengchun Peninsula, the southernmost part of Taiwan's main island, there is an ancient city built in the late Qing Dynasty, Hengchun. On the north wall of the ancient city, which has been beaten by wind and rain for more than a hundred years, a three-story building with white walls and white tiles and a big red balloon painted on the roof stands out from a row of small buildings.
This is the Red Balloon Bookstore, which has been open for more than eight months, and the only physical bookstore in Hengchun. "Books, videos, and sometimes cats," is described on the bookstore's namecard.
"If a place is only a homestay and there is no cultural roots, it always feels a little vacant." What can make guests stay a little longer and get to know the local area more deeply, we feel that the transmission of culture is particularly needed. The owner of the bookstore, "post-80s" Lin Yanting and Guo Dehui, said when talking about the original intention of opening the store.
Initially, they were attracted by the weather and leisure of Hengchun, and came from Taipei to open a homestay; they successively moved their books and placed them in the living room, room and even the corner of the stairs. "Do you open a homestay or a bookstore?" A casual inquiry from a guest touched the idea of opening a bookstore.
First find the small building that is now slightly far from the town center, relatively quiet, and the two also circle the island of Taiwan, visiting more than a dozen independent physical bookstores to learn from experience.
Recently, a reporter from China News Service visited the only physical bookstore located on the Hengchun Peninsula at the southernmost tip of Taiwan's main island, "Red Balloon Bookstore". Photo by Yang Chengchen
At the end of 2017, the Red Balloon Bookstore opened. The first floor of 70, 80 square meters is a bookstore, there is a sofa coffee table, for coffee and black tea, the second floor, the third floor of self-occupation. Many people come to visit, and tourists also hear the story of this bookstore.
In the store, there are not many kinds and quantities of books, but they are all young shopkeepers who are interested or want to discuss with you. Literature and art, picture books, life books, popular topics, etc., are all selected after thinking. "That's the fun of brick-and-mortar bookstores, where you can freely choose your favorite books to sell." Guo Dehui said.
Lin Yanting believes that readers can encounter a book or sentence they like, and the meaning of the bookstore's existence is enough.
Be prepared to "open a bookstore must lose" and adhere to the principle of book selection, how is the bookstore operating? Sales surprised them. According to the inspection, Taiwan's small physical bookstores have an average monthly sales of more than 100 books. Red Balloon Bookstore currently sells an average of 200 to 300 copies a month. "Many books that are difficult to sell in other bookstores are still selling very well here," Guo Dehui introduced, adding that at least eight sets of books with a price tag of nearly NT$1,000, such as "One Red Chamber a Day" and "One Tang Poem a Day", have been sold. In Hengchun, a remote and tourist-oriented city, this is "a rare and valuable thing".
The bookstore also frequently holds film appreciation and cultural lectures, and has four or five art and cultural activities every month. There is no cinema in Hengchun, and some classic black-and-white old films "Dragon Gate Inn", "I Am a Cloud" and "Daughter of the Nile" were screened in the bookstore, attracting many audiences.
Exhibitions and lectures are also rare in Hengchun. In the first lecture hosted by the bookstore, the theme was "Paper Airplane", where 10 local young people from singers, artists, designers and other identities told the story of pursuing their dreams, and more than 80 listeners crowded the bookstore. The second session, themed "Sea Diggers", features surfing champions, sea rescuers, diving instructors, and sailing sailors, and more than 150 listeners. The third lecture on the theme of "Food and Agriculture Education" has just concluded.
Guo Dehui believes that the communication between the speaker and the audience is touching, and the bookstore has begun to be called "Hengchun's living room".
As for the name "Red Balloon", it comes from a film of the same name by the famous French director Albert Raméris, and the tribute film "Red Balloon Journey" by director Hou Xiaoxian to this film.
Lin Yanting hopes to borrow the image of the "red balloon" to make everyone feel that books are like the "red balloon" in the film, which is a kind of companionship in people's lives. Guo Dehui said the bookstore left local children with memories of bookstores; through books and reading, they offer more possibilities for their future. (End)