A bookstore in Xiadi village, Fujian's Pingnan county [Photo by Zhuo Yuxing/Provided to China Daily]

"It does not only provide space for book selling, but also serves as a local library," says Xia Zhujiu, an architectural theorist.

"It's not only a bookshop, but a cultural education base that the business co-constructs with the local community. Qian also agrees that this is a way that bookstores can really help to revive ailing villages," Xia says.

For many architects, one of the most important reasons for accepting a contract is to see whether the building will be properly used in the future. This is certainly the case for Dong Gong, an architect who is going to design a new bookstore for Librairie Avant-Garde in Chengxiang ancient town located north of Chengdu, provincial capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.

"We hope that the building can really contribute to social life, and be used for either private or public purposes, regardless of praise or criticism, so that we can feel it's real, not just there to be part of a published photo," Dong says.

Based on the original old buildings, architects need to find solutions to connect the old with the new and the rural with the urban.