Get off the phone and into a book

While cultivating a new consumption brand matrix and constructing modern business logistic systems, Sanlitun, one of Beijing's most popular shopping areas in Chaoyang district has also stepped up its efforts to become the city's literary landmark.

In the past, TaiKoo Li Sanlitun was a place where consumers embraced international flagship stores and a fashionable lifestyle.

Now, people can also spend their reading time in Sanlian Taofen Bookstore and Chunfeng Xixi Bookstore, which were built on a street connecting the north and the south parts of TaiKoo Li.

"What we want is to make Sanlitun TaiKoo Li become a spiritual and cultural landmark while being Beijing's consumption and fashion center," Ma Zedan, head of Taikoo Li, told 45 journalists from home and abroad on Sunday in their visit organized by 2022 Beijing Media Center.

"Previously, the street was dirty and disordered, but now it is clean and organized, becoming a cultural platform in this area," he added.

Residents can enjoy reading in the Sanlian Taofen Bookstore from day to night, as it is a round-the-clock place with about 80,000 volumes of 25,000 kinds of high-quality books.

Next door is the two-floor Chunfeng Xixi Bookstore, an urban bookstore jointly built by Chunfeng Xixi Bookstore and the Beijing Chaoyang District Library. Some 2,000 magazines and books after a careful selection are provided for readers in the bookstore for free.

In addition to a public reading space, the bookstore has also joined hands with primary schools and communities in Sanlitun, organizing reading salons for students to help cultivate a reading habit.

"For example, we recently organized a reading salon with a primary school, focusing on Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games," said Shen Yun, an employee from the bookstore. "Students not only learned the Games-related knowledge from books, but also draw pictures about winter sports they were interested in."

"We hope more consumers can come to our space to have a leisure time while shopping in Sanlitun and make friends through book sharing with each other," she added. "We also want more people, especially youngsters, to get off mobile phones and discover the book world."