Returning to the Spiritual Home—A Wandering Notes on Yantai Zhongshu Pavilion

When the cool autumn breeze blows into the port city, the century-old street Chaoyang welcomes a new guest. This "gentleman" carried the Shanghai-style culture, a specialty of his hometown, and settled in a bank account in the late Qing Dynasty, spreading the aroma of paper and ink throughout the city.

Cities need bookstores. When towering buildings, streets with roaring sirens, and hurried crowds devour public spaces, cities are in urgent need of bookstores.

Zhongshuge, you came at the right time! The arrival of bookstores makes the inner cry of book lovers even more wanton: find a spiritual home and return to a spiritual home!

Break into a trustworthy space

"I have always secretly imagined that heaven should look like a library."

——Jorge Luis Borges, "Poems About God's Gift"

No emotion can replace the joy of meeting a bookstore.

Walking into Zhongshuge will make you feel rich. It's like a duke with a million pounds a year, looking contentedly at his private library, which contains countless treasures. The moment you enter the bookstore, your heart will feel richer than ever before.

Zhongshuge is a welcoming space that can bring enough sense of security. When readers enter, they are immediately surrounded by the smell of paper and the sight of books. The pillars are painted a gentle green, which reminds people of the green walls belonging to the last century. Some long-standing but clear memories come one after another, making people unable to help but take off all their armor and rush to the embrace of the bookstore as frankly as a child. Go in.

This was my first impression of Zhongshuge. With this layer of warmth, I put down my guard and wanted to read more about this bookstore.

Local civilization and Shanghai culture complement each other

“A city is a container of culture, and the life it carries is more important than the container itself.”

——Lewis Mumford, "Urban Culture"

Bookstores can be chain stores, but they cannot be replicas.

Zhongshuge comes from Shanghai, and has clones all over the country. They have the same roots, but they are not the same; they serialize Shanghai-style culture, but they also draw on the styles of various places.

Traveling to Yantai, Zhongshuge is the intersection of Shanghai culture, port opening culture and maritime civilization. It has to be said that the location of this bookstore is really exquisite: the modern building on Chaoyang Street that combines Chinese and Western styles is itself a "signature" of Yantai's local culture. Zhongshuge was stationed here, and the interior decoration left traces of the Republic of China and the waves. Western statues, yellowed English newspapers, and labyrinth-like mirror structures are perfectly integrated with retro mahogany stairs, wave-shaped iron railings, and fresh sea-flavored tones. They are harmonious and smooth, and it is difficult to find any abruptness. This harmonious but different architectural style allows visitors to experience the tolerance and refinement of Shanghai-style culture. Zhongshuge’s design philosophy of not excluding or dividing fully integrates local culture into itself and displays it skillfully – this is what a cultural landmark should be.

The integration of cultures is not only reflected in the architectural style, but also in the content. In the future, we look forward to the participation of local writers in bookstore activities and the imprinting of Yantai symbols on books and postcards.

Read a bookstore that is only a bookstore

No one is an island, every book is a world.

——Gabriella Zevin, "Island Bookstore"

The most beautiful bookstore, beauty lies in literature and art, but also in culture.

When I come to a bookstore, what interests me most is the quality of the books in the store. Zhongshuge Yantai store has a collection of more than 80,000 books, including life and leisure books, young people's books, literature, historical biographies, red classics and other books. Adhering to the cultural gene of "advocating morality, advocating literature, and reading to prosper the nation", Zhongshuge has many books for book lovers. Diverse spiritual needs provide space for free reading.

What attracts me most is the literature gallery on the west side of the second floor. The bookshelves are majestic and dotted with wisdom. The position of books may be higher than you, but they do not look down on you. Instead, they make people yearn for them. Here is a whole shelf of Wang Xiaobo and Yu Hua, with a spirit of humor and a spirit damaged by suffering; here is love during the cholera period, with romantic feelings that will last until death, and with a grass-roots spirit that will live forever; here is when the stars of mankind shine, there are There are long songs to cry after the pain, and there are also high-spirited Weijia Quartet; there is a beautiful new world here, there is the sun and the human heart that cannot be looked directly at, and there are also elusive fables and distance; here there are vicissitudes of life, there is innocence, and there is crazy joy. , with deep sorrow...

Zhongshuge has the attraction that a quality bookstore should have - when people walk among the bookshelves and just see the cover, they will be infected and trembled by the magnificent emotions of the book.

Let the silent spirit be thirsty

Money and power are the most important things in this world and are one aspect of human life; silent thinking is another aspect.

——Wang Xiaobo "My Spiritual Home"

The bookstore is a field of cultural exchanges. In this unique space, thinking can get rid of the shackles of daily trivialities and become wild and unconstrained; the sleeping brain absorbs enough energy, making every cell fight endlessly.

In Zhongshuge, we can greedily enjoy the rich spiritual benefits brought by the bookstore. Store manager Suo Peng said that Zhongshuge conducts 100 to 200 cultural activities a year, including psychological, financial, educational and other aspects. When more and more writers enter bookstores and face readers, the spiritual outlook of the city will surely take on a new look.

The bookstore is a meditator's kingdom, where speaking loudly is "illegal" but keeping silent is correct. When people walk there, they will be surrounded by countless touches of happiness, kindness, and tranquility, just like a boat sailing on a quiet sea without any hindrance.

In Zhongshuge, we can find our own part of the world, whether it is the coffee bar with a sweet smell, the children's hall dressed up as a pink dream, the cultural and creative area filled with the temperament of young people, or the teahouse located in a quiet corner. It constitutes a space for cultural communication. No matter whether you open your mouth to communicate or not, your thoughts will always run wild here, and your spirit will always be dry.

At this time when the pace of life is accelerating, it is particularly important to ventilate the spirit. Bookstores can serve as oxygen generators, purifiers and stylists in the city, rescuing people from the foggy forest of reinforced concrete. Standing in the deep blue night belonging to Zhongshuge, you can exhale: This is the window of the city, a place where fresh air flows in...