A winking giraffe at large

2 min read

Sure beats one in some sad enclosure.

Tingyun Bookstore, Where the Cloud Perches

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”

Jorge Luis Borges

Iready a renowned cultural powerhouse in its own right, Tingyun Bookstore is a calm at the heart of the bustling village of Beishan, adding yet another feather to the city’s artsy hat in the shape of Beishan’s first ever elite book outlet, or “library”, as the owner may prefer to call it. The bookstore is renowned for not only its highly selective book collection, but its creative environs, including a range of designer goods and exquisite lifestyle items.

Here, literature and art lovers of all age gather to connect with the wider cultural world, to sample the country’s intellectual spirit and energy in full swing, to spend quality time with like-minded individuals or to just browse the store’s astounding selection of titles in comfort. With a coffee bar and cozy seating areas for people to gather and, perhaps, indulge in the joy of slowly reading a good, oldfashioned book, the “library”is the dream of its beautiful owner come to life: to build a literary salon in which people can strengthen their cultural resolve. Indeed, the brand goes to great lengths to promote the pursuit of reading to all comers, and to make reading a part of everyday life. Tucked away next to the coffee-scented public reading space is the “secret garden” of the owner and her beloved feline friend.

This exquisite bookstore, a remake of a hundred-year-old ancestral temple site, is the brainchild of Yunduo(“Cloud”), who evidently has an ethereal, protective being around her, inspiring and guiding her efforts. The first part of the bookstore’s lofty name is drawn from a poem by Southern Song poet, Xin Qiji(1140-1207). The second part of the name is pronounced, “shufang”, which literarily means “the study”and echoes her dream of having a place for reading and contemplation where souls can be set free, and everyone can see the library of Borges around them in this Heaven on Earth.