Man with a funny plan

On a Tuesday afternoon in early August, an old couple were leafing through books at the bookstore. They bought two collections of jokes published by Duzhe (Readers) magazine from 1981 to 2013. At the suggestion of Qi, they also bought a collection of the works by crosstalk master Hou.

"It's a classic and out of print, and it's only 36 yuan ($5.6)," Qi says.

More than a decade ago, reading Taiwan writer Jong Fang-ling's books about bookstores around the world, Qi had a dream to open a bookstore one day.

Around seven years ago, when he was working at China Bookstore, a publisher of classic books, he started thinking about Chinese people's sense of humor. He found in the internet age, people from different cultures communicate more with each other, and humor is a great lubricant in communication. However, Chinese people often appear comparatively serious, "so I was wondering whether I could train people to be humor-sensitive," he says.

Although he did not carry out this plan, as an editor, he decided to compile a series of books as the Humor Library collection, and made four books based on works by Lu Xun, Lao She and ancient Chinese classics like A New Account of the Tales of the World.

He then drew a blueprint for his project-bookstores, goods, comics, comedies and even a humor-themed park.

It was not until last year when he finally got the chance to realize his dream. He first wanted to open a bookstore for the elderly like his parents to help them to live a better life. However, he says, he found that elderly people in general spent less time on books because of poor eyesight. Moreover, he had limited knowledge of books for aged people.

But by then, he had already collected more than 700 book titles related to humor. Qi says he observed people needed laughter, especially confronted with pressure from work and life, so it was time to open a humor bookstore. Avocado green was chosen as the theme color of the store. Many famous bookstores around the world are green as is postal service in China. "Post offices help to deliver information and our bookstore delivers laughter."

Besides, avocado green is a fashionable color favored by many young people.