Keeping up appearances

But the store specializes in books on rural development, the protection of ancient villages, folk arts and handicrafts, agricultural civilizations, rural education, rural-themed literature, and the geography and history of the county and province.

It also holds such events as academic and cultural salons, movie and theater shows, small art exhibitions and live music performances. And it sells more than 140 kinds of cultural products that feature the local natural beauty, geography, culture and history.

It's the bookstore chain's fourth branch to open in a rural location, after it established a store in a former ancestral hall in Bishan village in Anhui province, not far from Huangshan Mountain. Another branch was adapted from a renovated traditional dwelling belonging to the She ethnic group in Tonglu and followed the establishment of an outlet in Zhejiang province on top of a mountain in Songyang.

Qian Xiaohua, founder of the chain, believes the identity of Chinese culture is rooted in the countryside, and it is therefore key for the chain to revitalize rural life through culture.

Their main motive is to return culture to the grassroots, give rural children access to quality literature and show them that the hopes of the village depend on them, Qian said at the opening ceremony on Sept 28.