Rural buildings renovated by Librairie Avant-Garde: Bishan bookstore in Anhui province's Huangshan [Photo by Matjaz Tancic/Provided to China Daily]

Centers of attention

In ancient times, people in villages gathered in ancestral halls or temples. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, these became people's great halls, village halls, sometimes granaries and even clinics. But times have changed.

As a result, bookstores can play the role of a spiritual center where villagers and visitors can gather together, says Zhao Chen, an architecture professor from Nanjing University.

On May 1, the latest branch of Librairie Avant-Garde, Shaxi Bai Ethnic Bookstore, in Jianchuan county, Southwest China's Yunnan province, was opened.

Its sales in the last six months have surpassed those of 12 older branches.

Apart from general books, there are specialist works about local culture, geography and history, such as the Ancient Tea-Horse Caravan Route and Bai ethnic culture.

Once a deserted granary, the modern bookstore has welcomed a lot of grandmothers and mothers taking young children to read or just walk around, and sample the atmosphere, like relaxed visitors to a park. People do not consider it, primarily, as a commercial place. Some children go to the bookstore to do homework because they feel at ease in the space, says Huang Yinwu, architect of the bookstore.