Bookstore Map
Print Edition
Jing’an has many bookstores and reading venues. Here is a map of some of the most popular and most interesting.
Sisyphe
Address: 6F, Joy City, 198 Xizang Rd N.
Sisyphe in Joy City is an emerging bookstore brand that originated in the southwestern city of Chongqing. Its décor is vintage.
The store’s entrance stands between two Georgian-style, dark-green bowed windows and the interior decor is marked by yellow-cast light and vintage furniture. The design is meant to suggest the atmosphere of London several centuries ago.
Books in the store are especially selected with the tastes of young people in mind. A variety of cultural activities, including author appearances, are held from time to time.
Jing’an Children’s Library
Address: 28 Kangding Rd E.
Tucked away along Suzhou Creek is a reading paradise for children.
Jing’an Children’s Library was built decades ago in the Queen Anne style dating back to the early 18th century. Its elegant, bilateral symmetry features a red-brick façade, white woodwork, broad porches and corner towers. It gives the appearance of a fairy-tale castle.
The library holds nearly 50,000 volumes, including imported picture books for preschoolers. Foreign storytellers, book writers and cultural ambassadors are often invited to interact with local children.
The library has been a pioneer in introducing the latest technologies, such as augmented reality, to make reading more vivid and spur young interest in books.
Hughie Reading Club
Address: Room 402, 818 Changde Rd
Hughie Reading Club was hailed as the best bookstore in Jing’an last year.
It sells picture books for preschoolers. Also, children can experience role playing, do handcrafts and take part in games related to stories told in the books. It’s aimed at increasing their understanding of the world and helping them learn foreign languages.
Jing’an Library’s branch on Xinzha Rd
Address: 1702-1708 Xinzha Rd
The library invited the famous writer Zhao Lihong to open the Zhao Lihong Study room, where his manuscripts, calligraphy collections and gifts sent by overseas cultural celebrities are exhibited. The library has become a venue for exchange cultures between China and foreign countries. Over a year, writers from Argentine, Israel, the Netherlands and other countries have visited the venue.
L’s Book Cafe & Wine
Address: 195 Changde Rd
L’s Book Cafe & Wine is a café-style bookstore with a fascinating focus.
It has many photos and books related to Shanghai author Eileen Chang (1920-95) and is located on the first floor of the historical Changde Apartment, where Chang once lived.
Chang was born into a distinguished family with court ties in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). She suffered a great deal in her youth. After her parents divorced, her mother left her to the care of a drug-addicted father. The experience gave her a unique insight on humanity, reflected in works that propelled her to the status of one of the most influential female writers in China.
Most of her stories were set in Shanghai, and she was particularly good at writing about wartime romances.
“Eileen Chang is to Shanghai like Charles Dickens is to London, James Joyce is to Dublin, Victor Hugo is to Paris, and Orhan Pamuk is to Istanbul,” according to Chunzi, an expert on Chang’s works. “To enter Chang’s world is to know Shanghai.”
The vintage decor and old Shanghai elements, such as framed paintings, leather button armchairs and an historical phonograph, allow readers to feel authentic Old Shanghai.
Boocup
Address: B2, South Section, Jing’an Kerry Center, 1515 Nanjing Rd W.
Boocup in the Jing’an Kerry Center is perfect for more artistically inclined bibliophiles. It sells books about interior decorating, fashion and other design-related disciplines, many of which are in English for the benefit of local expats. These books are rarely seen in other bookstores in the city.
The shop is an open space formed by some stairs, where readers can rest and read.
Zhongshuge
Address: 4F, Réel Mall, 1601 Nanjing Rd W.
Zhongshuge is an example of how brick-and-mortar bookstores can survive in the era of digital books. Unlike many bookstores that were forced to close because of competition from online sellers, Zhongshuge is expanding from the city’s suburbs to the downtown.
Its popularity owes much to its stunning interior design. It features super modern elements, such as mirrored ceilings and zebra crossings, and also some classic Shanghai elements such as a layout of bookshelves that suggests the narrow alleyways in shikumen communities.
The interior atmosphere has made the bookstore an “Internet celebrity,” drawing many young people to take photos and post selfies. The aim is to get people through the door and hope the enchantment of the venue turns them into bookworms.
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