This library doesn’t have an impressive appearance so it can attract customers. It is located in an area that no one would imagine that it could house the wealth of knowledge. Either way it is the best bookstore in China and as strange as it sounds, it is built in an underground garage. Specifically, it was the former parking space for governmental vehicles which used to be a shelter.
In 1999, it was bought by the current owner, Qian Xiaohua and turned it into a stunning bookshop Librairie Avant-Garde. “We chose this area because it borders with the University of Nanjing. It has become something like a second library for students. We followed a Chinese saying, take something rotten and turned it into a small miracle, he said on CNN.
Inside the basement bookstore customers receive a copy of Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker, while the treasury bench has made ​​thousands of old books. Qian resigned from his job in the government to open the bookstore. In our bookstore reading is our religion and our place is paradise to those who love books, he said. It even has a space for lectures and musical events, as well as a cafeteria and a permanent exhibition of unique designs for book covers.
The beauty of this bookstore is that it works like a public library. There are two long tables for reading and over 300 seats for customers interested readers who want to spend a few hours resting, reading something they like. Thanks to all those now underground parking bookstore is one of the nicest and most interesting tourist attractions of the city.
View more about China here: New Century Global Centre of Chengdu in China | The biggest building in the world, Jiuzhaigou Valley | Turquoise lakes in China.
By Nicole P.
Librairie Avant-Garde photos: Kien Sun, Nostalgisk, Blaine O’Neil, Rebekah Chang.
