Turning a new page

Hidden in an alleyway of an old residential neighborhood in Changchun, Jilin province, Fanmo Calligraphy and Painting Society has quietly become a sanctuary for book lovers. Spanning 400 square meters and home to more than 100,000 secondhand books, the bookstore preserves the charm of the past while embracing new life in the digital age.

Inside, the scent of old books mingles with tea. Vintage volumes are stacked neatly on shelves, categorized using references from the Hundred Family Surnames and the Thousand Character Classic, lending the space a touch of Chinese literary elegance. Most of the space is devoted to books, with only a dozen seats set aside for free reading with no minimum purchase required.

The store's "curator", Ma Ruofan, met her husband in 2020 while he was running the family business. Together, they took over the legacy built by her mother-in-law, and gradually turned the bookstore into what they describe as their "second home".

After joining the business, Ma transformed the shop from an online secondhand bookseller into a welcoming public cultural space. She redesigned the layout, personally arranging bookshelves and wall decorations, introduced coffee, tea, and reading salons, and shared the bookstore's daily life on social media, attracting growing attention to the hidden shop.

Today, the store continues to improve in both atmosphere and operations, achieving financial stability while building a loyal community of visitors. More importantly, it has become a spiritual refuge for many readers — a place to browse books, enjoy a cup of tea, meet friends or, simply do nothing at all, just spending quiet hours surrounded by shelves of old volumes.

From a forgotten warehouse to a vibrant cultural space, the store has quietly opened a new chapter for old books in the digital age.