Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
Tall steps and a unique spiral staircase welcome visitors to a large bookstore in Tianjin, a city in northern China. But the shop’s eye-catching interiors attract more people taking photos than those who want to read.
Physical book sales in the country have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. This is despite government efforts to encourage people to buy more.
In recent years, a wave of “bookstores with unique characteristics” has emerged, according to Ai Limin. Ai is the head of a publishing group.
Architect Zheng Shiwei added that some bookstores in China had focused on making their interiors interesting so that people would want to take photos. He warned that this could lead many people to visit these stores without intending to buy or read books.
Last June, a bookstore in Nanjing, a city in eastern China, became popular with tourists. It put up a sign banning flash photography, tripods, hanging around for a long time and photoshoots without permission.
