Book lovers flock to 117-year-old store run by elderly man

Jiang Chengbo at his bookstore in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Xu Lijuan/China Daily]

Decades of working with books have made him a famous scholar of antique editions.

In 2001, financial problems forced Jiang to return from his retirement and reopen the bookstore, but with a new name. The new store took years to become a flagship among antique bookstores in Suzhou. In 2012, following suggestions from customers, Jiang changed the store's name back to Wenxueshanfang.

Jiang spent all his life exploring, rescuing, repairing and preserving antique books.

The national library and provincial libraries, who Jiang called his "big clients", collect books from his store to fill their shelves, with a few becoming the "treasure of the museum". Many university professors, scholars and book collectors are also his regular customers.

Thanks to the internet, Jiang's store is attracting a lot of new book fans. They come from all over China including Beijing, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Northeast China's Liaoning province and Southwest China's Sichuan province, turning him into an internet celebrity.

In addition to providing books to customers from his stock, Jiang also helps readers find books they are looking for. Some readers even come all the way to ask him to evaluate antique books they have collected.

As Jiang gets older, his children try to persuade him to give up the bookstore, because family finances have improved now and the store's profits have declined as rent climbs.

But Jiang has no plans to quit. He said, "This is my life. As long as I can walk, I will never give up." Obeying his will, Jiang's three children help him to run the store every day, taking turns.

"There is a high professional threshold to enter the antique book industry. Nurturing a qualified inheritor also needs time and energy and resists loneliness and temptation, especially at a time when antique books are seldom to see," Jiang said.

"Only by seeing many antique books one's evaluation ability improves," he said, adding that when he encounters a book, he will buy it and let his children see it.

Last year, the store was named the Excellent Featured Bookstore of Suzhou, an award that carried a prize money of 30,000 yuan ($4,500). Jiang used the money to replace the shelves, bringing a new look to the revered old bookstore.