Between the lines the story of an unusual tome

Fangyuan Bookshop [Photo by Yang Yang / China Daily]

With its intimate acquaintance with the arts the family has the kind of credentials that make it a natural for running the business they have, Lyu's father and his wife Liang Bing both having studied oil painting, and Lyu himself having studied graphic design. That expertise helped give the shop a great deal of credibility that contributed to its success, and when it was at its best it employed 11 people.

"But last year there was a slump in sales," Liang, 47, says. "And on two Sundays in March this year sales failed to cover the day's rent, and that had never happened in previous Marches."

They met while attending preparatory course to enter Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. Now, because she is busy with work, Liang seldom paints anymore.

The annual rent is 450,000 yuan, which means the shop needs takings of more than 1,200 yuan a day just to pay the rent.

"Of course, that does not take into account other costs such as paying the shop assistants," Liang says.

Feeling the pinch

As with many other bookshops in China, Fangyuan started to feel the pinch when e-commerce began to take off in the country, but the most immediate cause for the Xi'an store's woes comes down to bricks and mortar rather than the ether of cyberspace. In 2008 alone, Liang says, the shop's rent quadrupled, swallowing up profits.

"Rocketing real estate prices have been a terminator of bookstores," Lyu says. "But we chose to carry on."

There is no doubt, either, that e-books have eaten into the profits of those who sell printed books.

"These days many people read on mobile devices, especially about fashion," Lyu says. "But I'm convinced printed books will never perish."

You can look at pictures of any place on Earth on your computer, he says, but that is totally different to seeing the world for yourself. He applies the same analogy in comparing e-books and printed books.

"Paper has its own life, with different characteristics. When you make a book you choose different papers according to the book's temperament.

"When I am traveling I take a Kindle with me," Li says. "Yes, e-books are very convenient, but the touch of a book is different. There is a communication of body temperature (to hold a book in hand and turn the pages)."

Lyu says: "If had not made the book, a biography of the bookshop, perhaps I would never have got the chance again."

In late June 2010 Shaanxi Library hosted an exhibition called The Most Beautiful Books from Germany. Li Jin, Lyu Chonghua and another classmate of theirs at college, Wei Tao, went to take a look.