China Daily Weekly - 02.08.2019

“Our rule is to recycle books that can

be sold. Recently,we decided not to

recycle books thatwere used bylibrar-

ies,” she said.

“The top three categories for both

recyclingand sales are literature, social

science and art.Books aboutyoung

people, relationships and careers are

in high demand,”Bai said. “Detective

fiction is the most popular, butwe

suggest that sellers do not reveal the

killer’s name on the title page!”

Duozhuayu’s sales data for lastyear

showthat books about economics sold

quickly,while therewas an oversupply

ofworks about parenting.

Lastyear, the top 1 0 popularwrit-

ers onDuozhuayu includedHigash-

ino,who in addition toMiraclesof

theNamiyaGeneralStorewroteThe

DevotionofSuspectX; fellowJapanese

authorHarukiMurakami,whowrote

1 Q84andNorwegianWood;andChi-

nesewritersLouisChaLeung-yung

and YuHua.

The top three least popularwere

Chinese authorsGuoJingming,Han

Han andAnniBaobei,who allwrite

pop fiction.

“But the datawe collect are from

our recycled books, not the retail

market, and some books have been

published in differentversions many

times,which can be a reason for them

becoming ‘inactive’,”Bai said. “I doest

not necessarilymean theyare not pop-

ular anymore.

“Some 75 percent of our users are

under 3 0 and come from first-tier cit-

ies. Theyare mostlystudents, freelanc-

ers and internet companyemployees.”

LikeDuozhuayu,Manyoujing is also

a used-book customer-to-business-to-

customer platform, andwas founded

lastyear.

But it does not payits users in cash.

When users sell books toManyoujing,

the platform gives them points that

equate to the original price of a book.

The points can be used to buybooks

on the platform.

Founded inChengdu, Sichuan prov-

ince,Manyoujing nowhas more than

2 million registered users.

Worthcollecting

Founder WangLong told technology

mediawebsite 36kr that 7 0 percent of

its users are both buyers and sellers,

and 9 0 percent of the books collected

can be sold in 3 0 days.

“We have noticed a demand among

young people for reading byexchange

— to read more bookswithout paying

more money,” Wang said.

In addition toDuozhuayu andMan-

youjing, there are customer-to-cus-

tomer online platforms for used books,

such asConfucius and the flea market

platforms Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan.

Confucius, founded in 2 00 2, is now

one of the largest online used-book

platforms and features old titles that

areworth collecting.It has attracted

more than 1 0 , 000 bookstores and over

30 , 000 booksellers.

InBeijing, secondhand bookstores

are no longer easyto find, asyoung

people prefer to strike deals online.

Used books offline can be found at

thePanjiayuanAntiqueMarket each

weekend and at the book fair in Tem-

ple ofEarth park,which is held several

times aweek.

According to a report onChinese

reading habits lastyear, released by

Alibaba inJanuary, the reselling and

giving awayof used books boomed on

Xianyu.People inGuangdong prov-

ince topped the list for traded or give-

awaybooks,with 1.59 books per per-

son on average, followed byShanghai

residentswith 1.11 books and those in

Beijingwith 1. 0 8.

ByLIYINGXUE

Wang Yue, manager of The

Tintin Shop Shanghai, led a group

of readers to “revisit” theBelgian

cartoon character’s adventures in

the citybyintroducing them toThe

AdventuresofTintincomic book on

June 23.

AtJicBookstore in Shanghai, read-

erswere shown a documentaryand

attended a lecture as part of events

organized bythe store under the

theme “Visiting Shanghai”.

Facedwith a challenge from online

retailers, bookstores inChina are

looking for newroles.

InApril,JicBookstore opened its

seventh branch, inBeijing’s central

business district,with a total area

of 2, 000 square meters. Some 6 0

percent of the space is occupied by

bookshelves, and there is a 2 00 -sq-m

coffee area and a space for hosting

events.

Zhang Quan,JicBookstore’s dep-

utygeneral manager, said: “Unlike

traditional bookstores,w are like ae

cultural space andwe are also selling

cultural and creative products.

“As for selection, our chain focuses

more on biographythan other cat-

egories.Even though biographyis

a small category,we think it can

inspire people.

“Biographyusuallycomprises 5

percent of a bookstore’s stock, but at

JicBookstore this figure has doubled,

and includes biographies ofwriters,

artists, historians and businesspeo-

ple.”

JicBookstore has some themed

collections to enable readers to find

different books on the same topic.

“Our team has a book selection

meeting each month, and everystaff

member can recommend good books

that theythink are suitable for our

readers,” Zhang said.

Offline events are another keypart

of Zhang’swork, asJicBookstore

hosts localized cultural activities at

each branch, aiming to provide more

interactionwith readers.

“For example, in Shanghai,we

invite professors to speak about

the folk customs and historyof the

old city.It’s not alw aysabout pro-

moting books, but to add a cultural

atmosphere to the bookstore. We are

also building up a social circle for

our readerswith the same interests,”

Zhang said.

DaiLigen, 52, joins the event host-

ed byJicBookstore in Shanghai each

week.

“The professors at the eventwill

recommend some books for the audi-

ence, usuallyon biography, philoso-

phyor psychology,which happen to

be the types of books thatIwant to

read,”Dai said.

While modern bookstore chains

are busyexamining howtheycan

increasetheir engagementwith read-

ers, smaller, independent stores are

taking on the role of book selectors

for their customers.

Qing Song, owner of the discount

Douban bookstore,which occupies

just 68 sq m inBeijing, stocks books

he thinks are important for readers,

regardless ofwhether or not theyare

popular.

In2 00 9, Qing once stocked more

than 2, 000 copies ofKeyEconomic

AreasinChineseHistorybyhistorian

JiChaoding. The books finallysold

out onlyrecently.

“That book is averyimportant

work on the economic historyof

China, even though itwas published

a long time ago,” said Qing,who

likes to stock old books he thinks are

worth reading.

Opened in 2 00 6, Qing’s bookstore

was popular for the first twoyears,

and he even launched twomore

branches.However, online book-

selling had an impact on his busi-

ness, and nowonlythe original store

remains open.

He recalls that inJune 2 010 ,

when online retailerJDlaunched

the first of its annual sales, even his

own employees ordered WilliamL

Shirer’sTheRiseandFalloftheThird

Reich:AHistoryofNaziGermany,

whichwas offered on the site at a 5 0

percent discount.

Now, Qing also sells his books

through WeChat, recommending

several each day.

“It helps, as thiswayof selling can

nowcover half of our rent for the

bookstore.It can also take the books

Iselect to readers acrossChina,” Qing

said.

Facedwiththechallengefromonline

retailers,bookstoresexpandofferings

andfocusonprovidingculturalspace

Storesseeknew

rolestosurvive

2,

squaremeters

Totalareaof theJicBookstorebranch

opened inBeijing’sCBDin April

“Wehavenoticed

ademandamong

youngpeoplefor

readingbyexchange

—toreadmorebooks

withoutpayingmore

money.”

WANGLONG

FounderofManyoujing

Fromtop:Duozhuayu workers

clean used books for resale

online.

usedbooks

ALWEEKLY August 2-8, 2019 17