5 friends, 5 rooms and thousands of books
Print Edition
A brick-and-mortar book house that neither sells nor lends books has opened at the Old Residence of the Wang Family in Songjiang’s Cangcheng area.
The idea of making Weijue Book House into a public culture space was inspired by a reading performing art exhibition.
Weijue originates from an ancient Chinese verse to mark the transience of life and remind the value of time.
In December 2020, five post-1970 professionals from different trades launched a 15-day performing art exhibition that encouraged visitors to read on site.
The exhibition, with more than 3,000 books at Songjiang Cloth Art Gallery, turned out to be an Internet hit at social media.
“We didn’t expect it to be such a hit,” said Dong Ye, an initiator of the performing art exhibition. “Quite a few visitors shared their understanding, memories and feelings with us during the exhibition.
“Some repeated their hope that the exhibition could somehow continue,” said Dong. “In the beginning of this year, we heard that the Old Residence of the Wang Family in the Cangcheng Historic and Cultural Zone was waiting for renovation.”
The old residence was the home of renowned Songjiang calligrapher Wang Ziyi (1894-1975).
After renovation, the residence, with its antique roof and walls, thick greenery and lovely courtyard, appealed to five friends.
“We were enthralled by the place and began to imagine a future book house,” said Dong Ye.
The five founders — painter Dong Ye, photographer Goto, gardener Yun Jian Yu Fu, costume brand manager Jay and designer Apd — were old friends who loved books.
The old residence houses five separate rooms and each displays books and craft works of different themes — art and literature at Dong Ye’s room, photography at Goto’s, horticulture at Yun Jian Yu Fu’s, costume and folk culture at Jay’s and film and figurines at Apd’s.
“Our professions are all related to art. We hope the books we’ve collected for years can get people to think about reading and life,” said Goto.
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