Cleaning Up Nice: City Bookstore Opens on Sanlitun's Formerly 'Dirty' Bar Street

Huang Chenkuang | Nov 17, 2017 10:00 am | Add a comment | 2218 reads

After a months-long renovation, Sanlitun Bar Street came back to public attention with a brand-new look. Newly laid pavement and extended green spaces have transformed the formerly “dirty street” into a welcoming neighborhood. Businesses like Aperitivo and LaPizza have also reopened in wake of the renovation.

A new bookstore located at Sanlitun West Street is being renovated, taking the place of bars, and injecting a welcome addition to Sanlitun’s already vibrant cultural scene. The bookstore is now in soft opening and is scheduled to open to the public at the end of this month, according to one of the bookstore workers.

The bookstore, covering an area of about 260 square meters, is a two-floor white building with French windows on one side, leaving the room bathed with good light for reading.

Both English and Chinese books can be found on the bookshelves throughout the first and second floors, which are categorized into economics, history, culture, art, literature, et cetera. Tables and chairs next to the French windows are available for readers to relax and enjoy a pleasant reading experience.

What may differentiate the bookstore from its counterparts is the book corner piled high with President Xi Jinping’s new series The Governance of China, which is quite a hit in overseas book markets.

Additionally, a 24-hour bookstore with an area of 700 square meters will also be built next to the city bookstore, with the sponsorship of Joint Publishing. Cultural activities and lectures are expected to be hosted at the bookstore on a regular basis.