Culture and knowledge
When the first Central Bookstore opened a century ago, it was positioned as more than just a bookshop. Drawing on the thinking behind the Central Club, the founders also provided dining, lecture, and entertainment spaces. The bookstore itself also acted as a publisher of books, as well as arts magazines such as Nan Yin (“southern voice”) and Taiwan Wenyi (“Taiwan arts and letters”).
The recently reopened Central Bookstore carries those ideas into the present. The Shang Shan Human Culture Foundation, which purchased the building and now runs the store, has adopted an integrated business model that not only has the three-story, 660-square-meter space retailing works of literature, history and philosophy, but also incorporates a mall for creative and cultural goods, dining services, a reading area, and a lecture hall. In a further echo of its history, the new store also has publishing capabilities.
“We hope that the people who come here will experience a different side of reading,” says Shen. “We have positioned Central Bookstore as ‘more than just a bookstore.’ The old Central Bookstore was a place for literati to interact. We hope that the new one also becomes a forum for interaction: between people and other people, people and books, and people and knowledge.”
Committed to the idea of “reading” with all five senses, the shop puts on events to enrich works by taking them beyond the printed page. For example, the Wednesday Reading Club hosted by PC Home chairman Jan Hung-tze leads rereadings of literary classics. The shop also brings books and food together with “author banquets” that bring to life flavors described in books, or that serve up specialties of the authors themselves. Regardless of the format, these meals help bring people closer to literature.
In addition to being a bookshop, Central Bookstore was also a publisher of works by local authors such as Yeh Jung-chung and Hong Yanqiu.