Xiamen's bookstores need modernizing
By Tucker Harding

Tucker Harding是个暂居厦门的老美,更是个不折不扣的"书虫".何以见得?"目不识丁"的他愣是逛遍了厦门的各个书店,不为别的,就为能感觉书的质地,闻闻书的墨香.这一逛,也引发出他对厦门书市的一番独到见解.

Changes in the Chinese publishing industry over the past ten years have been incredible. The implementation of multi-channel distribution has led to the growth of new bookstores. Retail bookselling shows unprecedented(前所未有) vigor: over the past ten years, China's book industry has more than quadrupled in size, and it's exciting to think about what the next ten years will be like. I find myself wondering, however, why most bookstores don't reflect this growth, especially in a modern city like Xiamen.



Bookstores ought to be comfortable places
Part of the great success of bookstore "giants" in America has been the design of their retail stores: they are truly comfortable places. Although often stocked with a bewildering fifty-to-eighty thousand volumes, these mega-stores feel more like recreational areas than the houses of intellectual stimulation that they are. They have high ceilings, warm lights, comfortable carpeting, and intellectual music usually plays quietly overhead. They are often equipped with comfortable chairs and sofas, and many have designated reading areas, countless magazine racks and most even have coffee shops. This kind of setup encourages people to come in, grab some titles, sit down, and stay a while. The sales-staff are always knowledgeable and friendly, and there is never pressure to buy anything. This welcoming atmosphere encourages people to stay longer, look through more books, and the result is that people naturally end up buying more-it's a matter of exposure. This would be a good model, I think, for some bookstores in China. Some are beginning to follow this trend already, such as the excellent All Sages Bookstore in Beijing, but they are rare. Many bookstores here feel like old, boring school libraries, and I think it discourages many would-be readers from stopping in more often.

More specialty sections needed
It has been mentioned to me that maybe there just aren't enough desirable books here to fuel a demand for the caliber of bookstores I would like to see, but I think there are enough, or, at least, there should be. In addition to keeping a larger stock of Chinese and translated volumes, there should also be more specialty sections, including graphic volumes such as art books, and photography collections. I've also been cautioned that perhaps demand isn't where it needs to be for modern bookstores to be successful here, and, again, I disagree. Even with modernized retail shops, a successful book industry relies first on the cultural base that it stands on, and this base is the hardest part to achieve. In China, this base is already primed for growth. It's becoming increasingly obvious that books are going to continue to rise in popularity here for decades to come, and this should fuel interest and confidence in aspiring writers, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of inspiration, creation and demand. With more than a billion unique voices, China has an incredible base for continuing to make major literary contributions this century, and its bookstores should be reflecting this better than they are.

A good opportunity for book retail to boom
The atmosphere of quiet intellectual pursuit is as strong amongst many Xiamen residents as it is anywhere else in the world. Even without the comfort found in modern bookstores, interest in reading here is strong, and getting stronger: I see kids, students, families, old women-every demographic, really-reading for hours in the large "Xinhua" and "O2" bookstores. Having no other option, they sit on the floor between aisles(走廊), flop down in corners, or crouch in stairwells. As reading continues to increase in popularity, bookstores should be increasingly popular places, but the retail industry needs to better respond to these floor-sitters, and encourage even more people to come in and read by rolling out a welcoming mat.

I am both attracted to and intimidated by books-and here in China it's mostly the latter. Printed words contain voices, and, by virtue of the uniqueness by which every book is written, and the effort and labor of every author who has dared leave his mark in ink, what really exists there, between the covers, is a preserved mind. They allow a kind of sharing to exist between generations and centuries of generations. Thus, bookstores are haunted(鬼神附着的) places; they are halls of voices eager to live on. This feeling is especially strong in China because people have been printing here the longest, resulting in what is now one of the oldest literary cultures in the world. Often overlooked (忽略)during the last half-century, a solemn fact remains: China's is a culture of books. Discovering Chinese bookstores has put me before thousands of minds previously missing from my life, and these days I am awestruck(吃惊). I would like to see these books housed in a way that better respects their authors, and I would like to see them available in a way that Xiamen readers deserve.

 

 

Expression of state



A visual art exhibition named "Expression of state" by a group of six young artists opened last Saturday at the top floor of a building at No. 29, Houjiangdi Road (on the compound of Xinweitian Food Factory). Cheng Wenling, Tang Nannan, Pan Mingquan, Lin Meiya and Wang Weijie presented in the show their contemporary artworks of sculpture, installation, digital video and others.

Tong Yan, the curator of the exhibition who is teaching at the Art Education College of Xiamen University, said that when an artist takes art as a part of his daily life, it is his mind rather than art that makes things special.



This exhibition will conclude on September 12. Those who are interested are welcome to go and draw their own view of the show.

 

 

Themes of the Olympics II
By 高翔



就像是1984年的洛杉矶奥运会的主题歌中所唱的一样,"Reach out for the medal",孙甜甜和李婷用在烈日下艰苦训练而黝黑的双臂,拥抱了2004雅典奥运会网球女双的金牌.

20年前的这首"Reach Out"或许是我们印象中第一首奥运会主题歌.这届奥运会中国实现了金牌零的突破,也认识了一个黑人歌手-Lionel Richie,后来大家因为一首"十大英文经典"而更加熟悉他的名字-"Say you, say me".

1988年的汉城奥运会主题歌或许是历史上传唱度最高的一首了-Hand in hand,当时的奥委会主席萨马兰奇认为"Hand in hand"是奥运会会歌里最成功的一首,并且考虑将这首歌定为奥运会的永久会歌.这首歌的演唱者是韩国组合"Koreana",从两男两女穿着燕尾服,戴着墨镜高歌"Hand in hand,阿里郎"的歌手身上,我们第一次认识了韩国流行音乐.作曲者是现年64岁的意大利电子音乐大师Giogio Moroder,创作报酬是150万美元.后来大家又因为另外一首名曲而对他欣赏有加-1990年意大利世界杯主题歌"意大利之夏/To be No.1".

1992年奥运会主题歌的创作者和男声演唱者是一个同性恋,而且在奥运会开幕半年之前死于艾滋病.你会歧视他吗?请不要,因为这有悖奥运精神.

世界顶级的英国摇滚乐队The Queen的主唱Freddie Mecury在1986年巴塞罗那申奥的时候创作了这首摇滚与古典美声融合的歌曲"Barcelona",并广为流传.巴塞罗那奥运会官方曾因Freddie Mecury的死因而另选主题歌,后来迫于国际舆论的压力而未能实现.