The 2018 World Historical and Cultural Cities Expo is about to open in Nanjing tonight! Representatives of the youth leaders from the countries along the "Belt & Road" Initiative have arrived in Nanjing one after another these days. And they started a one-day tour of Nanjing yesterday. One of their stops is the famous Librairie Avant-Garde, a landmark of the Jinling culture.
Youth leaders looking forward to the Expo
These youth representatives have mostly been to Nanjing for the first time, but some are old friends to Nanjing. We interviewed several people at random to see their views and feelings about Nanjing.
Click to watch the video and check out Latvian youth representative Jana’s first impression of Nanjing.
Jana from Latvia had just arrived in Nanjing on May 23rd and this was her first time in China. The event made a deeply impression on her, especially the “underground garage turned into a bookstore” part. She expressed great admiration for such cultural creativity. Jana admitted that she didn't know much about Nanjing at the beginning of her trip, but she thought Nanjing is really a "city of culture" and she was looking forward to the next event.
Reaksmey, a cool-haired young man from Cambodia, has come to Nanjing for the second time. He loves Chinese culture very much and thinks that Nanjing is a very creative city. Although he couldn't find a book that he could read in the store, he would still buy some creative products as souvenirs of his trip to Nanjing.
Kavinien, from Mauritius, was clearly interested in poetry. Even if he didn't speak Chinese well, he still chose a collection of Tagore's poem collection Gitanjali as a souvenir. He also bought some paper-cut works with Chinese characteristics for his mother.
Youth leaders hope that Librairie Avant-Garde goes global
Librairie Avant-Garde, founded in 1996, now has 13 outlets. But the most representative one is the one that is located in Wutaishan Mountain. The founder of Librairie Avant-Garde Qian Xiaohua also came to the store yesterday, telling the stories of the bookstore to the youth leaders.
Qian Xiaohua mentioned many times that Librairie Avant-Garde is not only a bookstore, but also a way of life for Nanjingers. To the “outsiders” from all over the world, this place is like a “pure land of ideas”. Through reading, one can get inner peace, which is also the mission of a bookstore in the internet era. At the same time, Librairie Avant-Garde holds more than 400 cultural events each year for Nanjingers to collide different ideas.
The youth representatives were obviously quite pleased with the bookshop, and said: “When can Librairie Avant-Garde open branches overseas?"
It seems that the city's cultural charm has made the foreign youth leaders loyal fans of Nanjing.
The morning activities ended very quickly and the group left Librairie Avant-Garde with reluctance. We believe the next trip of the Expo will bring them more surprises!
