Times are changing, and the closure and closure of a large number of physical bookstores has become commonplace for modern people and is no longer new.
Most people have no other nostalgia or behavior other than silently expressing regret in their hearts after reading news such as "Another bookstore has collapsed."
After all, physical bookstores are like candles in modern life. Although they carry light and can hold up the unusually "warm" part of the darkness, they are always just an atmosphere and a spiritual comfort, not a necessity. .
A wave of closures, bankruptcies, millions of losses... In such a trend, there is a bookstore that resolutely breaks through and sticks to it, choosing a location in the most inconspicuous rural area of ??Yunnan. house, and built a rural bookstore that seemed to be completely unprofitable.
Why?
Can idealism survive when physical bookstores move from crowded commercial centers to remote villages?
On August 15, the Pioneer Shaxi Bai Bookstore, which had been in trial operation for three months despite the shadow of the epidemic, opened in Shaxi Ancient Town, Jianchuan County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.
On the opening day, an old man of the Bai ethnic group wrote a blessing in crooked handwriting: "Welcome your bookstore to a complete success." Joy seems to be even stronger in these remote mountain villages, far away from the hustle and bustle and materialism.
Just as Pioneer Bookstore has always insisted, "For moments like this, we go out of the towns and go into the countryside. We hope that the poetry and ideals accumulated over the years will have the opportunity to infiltrate every heart that yearns for ‘the other side of the mountain’. One day, everywhere the sun shines, the sound of turning pages will be heard. "
When it comes to Pioneer Bookstore, people in the cultural circle should be familiar with it. This bookstore, founded in Nanjing in 1996, has explored a bookstore with "academics, cultural salons, coffee, art galleries, movies, music, and creativity. A cultural and creative brand bookstore business model with the theme of ", life, fashion". It has developed from a small bookstore of only 17 square meters to a national chain bookstore with 16 directly operated stores, which is very popular among literary and artistic youth.
Since 2014, Pioneer Bookstore has begun to choose rural areas far away from busy cities and scenic spots, and has successively opened Bishan Bookstore in Yixian County, Anhui Province, Yunxi Library in Tonglu County, Zhejiang Province, Chenjiapu Pingmin Bookstore in Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, and Xiamen Bookstore in Pingnan County, Fujian Province. Di Shuitian Bookstore. The Pioneer Shaxi Bai Bookstore in Dali is the fifth rural bookstore opened by Pioneer Bookstore.
Qian Xiaohua, the founder of Pioneer Bookstore, said, “What the countryside needs most is a bookstore. The reconstruction of public order and public space. We feel that we should open bookstores in rural areas, hoping to find and discover new beauty and new values. "Pioneer wants to realize the vision of "lighting up the lamp of rural reading" through the rural bookstore project and realize the revitalization of rural culture.
Dali's Shaxi Ancient Town is famous and has been a fortress on the Tea Horse Road in Southwest China since ancient times. , after salt wells were dug around it, it became an important distribution center for the salt industry. It once witnessed the gathering of caravans and was a historical and geographical center for the exchange and integration of multiple cultures in the southwest.
Modern transportation development in the second half of the 20th century. Later, the once noisy glory of Shaxi Ancient Town also declined along with the Tea Horse Road. The population was depopulated, the houses declined, and it was gradually closed and forgotten by the outside world.
In late November 2016, the Pioneer Bookstore was about to open. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, Qian Xiaohua came to Shaxi Ancient Town because of the poet Bei Dao. At that time, Pioneer Bookstore's plan to open ten ethnic minority rural bookstores was gradually advancing, and the plateau Bai villages with outstanding people became the center of Pioneer Bookstore. The next promised land is abandoned such as the Kui Pavilion and the stage in the core of the ancient town, the Xingjiao Temple and Laomadian on Sifang Street, the key Bai courtyards on Sideng Street and Guzong Lane, and the dilapidated buildings. Qian Xiaohua finally found the dilapidated grain depot in Beilong Village on the east bank of the Heilongjiang River, considering the location of the best ancient town, but chose the almost completely ignored rural area. This decision surprised everyone.
But Qian Xiaohua saw that the open rammed earth old house was full of traces of time, and he immediately became convinced of the pioneer's idea: to transform the material granary. It has become a spiritual bookstore!
The Pioneer Shaxi Bai Bookstore we see now is presented on the basis of almost completely retaining the historical appearance of the grain station.
Unexpectedly, Pioneer Shaxi Bai Bookstore lasted three years and became the longest-running project of Pioneer Bookstore.
During the three years, Pioneer Bookstore opened four more new stores in Zhejiang, Nanjing and Fujian. Home bookstores - Pioneer Chenjia Pu Common Bookstore, Pioneer Poetry Bookstore, Pioneer Chongzi Bookstore, Pioneer Xiadi Shuitian Bookstore, and have been awarded the honors of "China's Most Beautiful Bookstore of the Year" and "China's Theme Bookstore of the Year"
< p> Let's get back to the bookstore itself.Pioneer Shaxi Bai Bookstore, as always, focuses on the poetry counter, which has selected more than 1,000 representative poetry collections by Chinese and foreign poets, more than any other branch of Pioneer Bookstore, including many rare editions of poetry collections; At the entrance of the bookstore, there are two walls of books on social sciences and the "Utopia" brand, both of which are high-quality humanities books. The nine-story bookshelf of the bookstore stands tall and densely packed in a continuous row. Tens of thousands of books are carefully placed, which makes people feel at ease and happy.
On the north wall of the core of the bookstore, the bookshelves rising step by step stand tall and tall. This is the most impactful staircase book wall. The pioneer team created the most local and spiritual Shaxi cultural landscape.
In addition to admiration, if you go up the stairs and browse carefully in the staggered space, you will find the prominently displayed "Dian", "Tea Horse Road", "Dali" and "Jiama" , "Bai" and other 13 key categories of topics. Professional books introducing Yunnan's history, geography, archeology, education, culture, local chronicles, folk customs, and scenery can be found everywhere. There are also books on the study of the Naxi, Lisu, Yi, Dai and other ethnic minorities. Books are everywhere, and all information about the Bai people is specially displayed in a special counter.
In addition, the bookstore also has special book areas with the theme of "Southwestern Associated University" and "They are in Yunnan", which gather the most representative humanistic creative landscapes of Yunnan. You can appreciate the works of Yu Jian, Lei Pingyang, The Yunnan literary world of Zhu Ling and other famous poets and writers. Taking into account the multi-ethnic situation in Yunnan, the bookstore has also set up an ethnic language section, displaying a large number of specially selected books in Dongba, Tibetan and other languages. The Tibetan versions of "The Little Prince" and "Wolf Totem" are on display , extremely conspicuous.
Fully respecting the local history and culture, Pioneer’s team also made several special trips to collect information and excavate materials, fully combining Shaxi’s unique local folk customs and vicissitudes of ancient humanistic history to create the Shaxi Bai Bookstore Hundreds of Shaxi characteristic cultural and creative products have been customized.
For example, the Eighteen Strange Tapes made based on the unique folk customs of Yunnan, the canvas bags, postcards, and notebooks designed with the image of "Jiama", a typical representative of Shaxi folk art, and the mascot of the Ji ethnic group, which means good omen. Handmade ceramic ornaments, brooches, and refrigerator magnets designed by "Wamao". There are luggage tags based on the ancient and touching love story "Five Golden Flowers", as well as Yunnan traditional handmade cloth and Yunnan scenery imaging products, etc.
The bookstore is opened in a Bai village. In addition to the tourists who come here with the purpose of checking in, the most touching thing is the villagers who come to the store to browse books.
The old man with a cane or his hands behind his back slowly walked into the door of the bookstore step by step. Although he could no longer stand up straight, he browsed through the bookshelves one by one, quietly and carefully, which made people awe-inspiring. Respect; the students in the village made friends, and the last half of the class came one after another, as if they had found a new classroom, and knew that the books in the bookstore could be opened and read, and they were all very happy; the soles of their shoes were still stained with the work done in the morning. The dirt-loving uncle cleans up the dirt again and again outside the bookstore, for fear of coming in and soiling the ground...
Back to the question at the beginning of the article.
A wave of closures, bankruptcies, and losses of millions... A bookstore resolutely broke through and persevered under such circumstances. It chose the most inconspicuous earthen house in rural Yunnan to build a bookstore. Opening a rural bookstore that doesn't seem to make any money at all.
Why?
Can idealism survive when physical bookstores move from crowded commercial centers to remote villages?
I can't give a standard answer.
Sometimes reading is not just a so-called elegant thing with a cup of coffee or a pot of fragrant tea. In fact, it can also be the concentration with two feet of dirt and a basket of pigweed.
And this bookstore is like a cultural disseminator and liaison. He connects people from different regions and different classes through his love for books and culture. I can't answer questions about whether the company is profitable or profitable, but based on the cultural mission behind it, I hope more people can know what they are doing.