The children’s space of the bookstore.

The cultural and creative space of the bookstore.

Wenzhou’s first outlet of Zhongshuge Bookstore, which is known as “China’s most beautiful bookstore”, has completed construction and will be opened soon in Southern Zhejiang Science and Technology City (SZSTC), an industrial park of Wenzhou.

Zhongshuge Bookstore has been hailed as “the most beautiful one of its kind in China” since its debut in Songjiang District, Shanghai in 2013. When opening new chain stores in different cities, the bookstores will incorporate local cultural elements into their design, making it all the rage locally.

Wenzhou’s first Zhongshuge Bookstore project was launched on Nov. 6, 2021, with its investment totaling 7.48 million yuan. Featuring a sunken plaza design, this 857-square-meter bookstore is divided into reading rooms, exhibition rooms, coffee shops, children’s classrooms, cultural and creative shops, and parents-children play space. Literature, art, humanities, social sciences and children’s books are the major book genres there. What makes the bookstore unique is its Wenzhouese cultural elements represented by “Ou embroidery”, “movable type printing” and two other intangible cultural heritages, which enrich its reading space, coffee corner, cultural and creative products and cultural activities. Committed to an immersive experience of urban family’s library, the bookstore creates a “book plus” model with culture at its core that is to foster a love of reading among Wenzhouese and contribute to Wenzhou’s reading campaign.

The south core area of Southern Zhejiang Sci-tech City, where the bookstore is located, covers an area of 300,000 square meters and has introduced Beidou Information Industry Base, the Oujiang Laboratory and other major projects, with the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University planned to set up there. As an important supporting business facility in its neighboring area that is still under construction, Zhongshuge Bookstore is to add spice to the life and scientific research of those working there, thus attracting more people to come. Moreover, the bookstore provides valuable experiences for state-owned enterprises in Wenzhou New Bay Area in their exploring the paths of business diversification and market-oriented reforms to better shoulder social responsibilities.