Dottie Tang,Siling | “Wind’s Voice, Freedom’s Choice”
Shanghai Jifeng Bookstore Reborned in Washington, DC
編者按：“人類的理性美而不屈不撓。牢獄，鐵絲網，把書漿成紙糊，判處流放，都不能征服它。”9月，季風書園和季風人文講堂在華盛頓重啟，並在九月邀請了吳國光、裴敏欣和哈金三位老師開講。波士頓書評特別前往DC華盛頓採訪，本文為中英文雙語。此為英文版。
1
On the morning of September 12, before 11 a.m., Yu Miao and his wife arrived at the newly reopened Jifeng Bookstore in downtown Washington, D.C. The bookstore is located on Connecticut Avenue, near Dupont Circle, just a short distance from the White House.
Soon，customers began entering the store, one after another, browsing the books and curiously inquiring about everything related to the bookstore.This is the first Chinese bookstore in Washington, but in Shanghai, it once had a 20-year history and was considered a cultural landmark.
In 1997, scholar Yan Bofei opened the first Jifeng Bookstore at the Shaanxi South Road metro station in Shanghai. Yan Bofei said, “It was almost a result forced by the pressures of life and spiritual circumstances.”
Yan Bofei was born in 1954 and spent nine years in Inner Mongolia as part of the rural labor force in Mao‘s time. After the restoration of the college entrance exam system, he was admitted to the mechanical engineering department of Tianjin Institute of Light Industry. In 1984, he pursued a master’s degree in philosophy at East China Normal University, later working at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. His research focused on the history of the philosophy of science and the history of modern Chinese thought. He dedicated his life to participating in intellectual enlightenment, reinterpreting the fate of several generations, and seeking to connect with the world’s spirit.
The name of the bookstore– “Jifeng" (monsoon)– was actually chosen by Yan Bofei’s wife. Yan Bofei explained that the name "Monsoon" symbolizes life’s endless vitality, much like the thoughts and fate of modern China. However, he recalled that the founding of the Jifeng Bookstore was a chance event with no grand vision at first and left little record. Nevertheless, the wind of Jifeng blew through Shanghai for 20 years, becoming a cultural landmark in the city.
At that time, readers often used a line of poetry by Zheng Chouyu （鄭愁予）to describe the presence of independent bookstores: “Who passed down this craft, lighting a lamp in the dusk.” During that period, independent bookstores sprung up in various cities across China: Xixifu（Sisyphus，西西弗）Bookstore in Guizhou, Wansheng（All Sages，萬聖）, Guolinfeng（National Forest Wind，國林風), Fengrusong (Wind Blowing into Pine Trees，風入松) bookstores in Beijing, Xianfeng（Pioneer，先鋒） Bookstore in Nanjing, Xiaofeng （Moring Breeze曉楓） Bookstore in Hangzhou, and Xueryou （學而優）and other private bookstores in Guangzhou. Shanghai had Jifeng, which soon expanded to eight branches. A few years later, Yan defined the bookstore’s purpose as “independent cultural stance, free expression of thought.” In his memoir article “Twenty Years of Jifeng Memories” Yan Bofei wrote：“Your instinct for knowledge and value becomes a part of the bookstore’s character, which is what makes it an independent bookstore. You shape the bookstore’s stance with your values. It was here that the spirit of underground reading during the Cultural Revolution and the hopes for another possibility for China in the 1980s were tenaciously reborn. This is also the secret behind Jifeng Bookstore’s continuous presence for 20 years. In Yan Bofei's view, the bookstore's commercial value is largely equivalent to the cultural value it constructs. From this perspective, the selection of books (including both procurement and display) becomes the bookstore's core business. Thus, Jifeng Bookstore is like a world of thought, constantly reflecting on the issues of the current era. Based on this belief, book selection (including procurement and display) became the core business of the bookstore. Thus, Jifeng Bookstore became a realm of thought, constantly reflecting on the issues of contemporary times.
Yu Miao explained that the secret weapon of the newly reopened Jifeng Bookstore in Washington remains its outstanding book selection team. On the central bookshelf, books by contemporary scholars such as Minxin Pei, Ha Jin, Chow Po-chung, Chen Yizhong, Xu Ben, Bao Gangsheng, Fu Guoyong, and Ye Fu are displayed. There is also a shelf dedicated entirely to books in English about China. The bookstore carries not only books in simplified Chinese but also in traditional Chinese from Taiwan and works in English.
“The Jifeng Bookstore in Washington D.C. continues to uphold its slogan from the Shanghai days: ‘Independent cultural stance, free expression of thought.’ It may sound a bit tough, but it was fitting for China. Now, we have a new slogan here: ‘The wind’s Voice, Freedom’s Choice’ . We hope this expresses our joy in embracing freedom and our commitment to upholding its values.”
Upon entering the bookstore, visitors are greeted by a display of Chow Po-chung’s new book Left-Wing Liberalism: The Concept of a Fair Society and Helen Zia’s Asian American Dreams.* Chow Po-chung is regarded as one of the leading voices in contemporary liberal thought, focusing on liberalism and social justice—issues central to Jifeng’s book selection and highly relevant to contemporary Chinese concerns. Helen Zia’s *Asian American Dreams* seems to indicate Jifeng’s new identity in Washington, reflecting on how overseas Chinese might navigate both Chinese and American cultures.
2
In the window display of the Jifeng Bookstore in Washington D.C.，there are two books planned by Resonance Book Studio: Nihilism by Dutch scholar Norlen Geertz and Cynicism by British scholar Ansgar Allen.
In 2003, during the heyday of Jifeng Bookstore, Yan Bofei founded "Shanghai Sanhui Publishing," a company dedicated to planning and publishing books in the fields of thought, social sciences, academia, and culture. Aligned with the ethos of Jifeng, Sanhui also had its own value stance, describing itself as "a publishing house that has hardly ever produced a bestseller, only aiming to preserve a few resources of thoughts for a free intellectual life." "A free Intellectual life" became their slogan. The company's initial intent and purpose, in Yan Bofei's words, was: to preserve some thoughts for this unknown world, even though it may seem insignificant…
Xu Ben, the renowned scholar and also an author of Sanhui, said, " It may be a humble way of expression that Sanhui Books describes itself as a publishing company that has almost never produced a bestseller. However, Sanhui states that it 'cares about the spiritual condition of the times, the overlooked history, and the freedom and rights of individuals, aiming to preserve some thoughts for this unknown world and to provide useful intellectual resources for contemporary life.' This is absolutely true. Around 2006, Ms. Liu Qingfeng, the editor-in-chief of Twentieth Century at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told me that when it comes to publishing, I should seek out Mr. Yan Bofei of Sanhui Books. That’s when I encountered the first 'benefactor' of my writing career, an experience I’ll never forget."
For readers, important authors such as Umberto Eco, Neil Postman, Ayn Rand, Tony Judt, Mark Lilla, Primo Levi, Barbara W. Tuchman, Edward Said, Hannah Arendt, Yu Ying-shih, and Huang Renyu were introduced to them through Sanhui Books. Academic bestsellers like Ill Fares the Land， The Life and Thought of Hu Shi: A Retelling of His Journey, Amusing Ourselves to Death, The Origins of Totalitarianism, The Drowned and the Saved, The Better Angels of Our Nature, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Passage to Manhood:Youth Migration,Heroin,and AIDS in Southwest China , The Disappearance of Childhood, Neighbors, and Deep Structure of Chinese Culture have influenced generations of Chinese readers. On Douban, the Sanhui Books list spans more than sixty pages, with some books receiving tens of thousands of reviews, the highest reaching over forty thousand reader ratings.
In 2006, Jifeng Bookstore launched Jifeng Book News. At the time, this electronic publication, along with Reading Product and Independent Reading, was known as one of the "three major electronic publications in Shanghai." In 2011, the Reading Product group disbanded. In 2015, Independent Reading ceased publication. Jifeng Book News persisted until the very last moment, lasting until 2018. At its peak, it had over 20,000 subscribers
For twenty years in Shanghai, Jifeng Bookstore and Sanhui Publishing became a dreamland in the minds of a generation of readers. Today, at Jifeng Bookstore in Washington D.C, one can still clearly feel the pulse of its past life in Shanghai.
3
On that afternoon, before the lecture began, Yu Miao screened a documentary in the bookstore's basement that had just been edited a week prior. The documentary documented the last 283 days of the Jifeng Bookstore in Shanghai.
In 2017, Jifeng Bookstore received an official letter stating that the Shanghai Library would "reclaim the property for its own use in order to prevent the loss of state-owned assets and in conjunction with the current use of the premises and the needs of its development." The contract was set to expire on January 31, 2018. The Shanghai Library store was the last location of Jifeng Bookstore.
As early as in 2008, the Jifeng Bookstore was faced with lease issues. In that fall, the Jifeng Bookstore on South Shaanxi Road was on the verge of closing due to the expiration of a 10-year lease, with the landlord demanding a tenfold increase in rent. However, the news of Jifeng's impending closure due to the rent hike attracted significant attention from readers and the cultural community in Shanghai, which ultimately led to the pressure from the municipal government on the subway company. After six months of negotiations Jifeng Bookstore was able to renew its lease for three more years, allowing it to remain open. In 2012 when the lease expired again, the rent was still set to increase. Jifeng could not afford it. Consequently, the bookstore located on Huaihai Road was forced to move to the relatively cheaper Shanghai Library Station, which was the last of Jifeng's eight locations at that time. Meanwhile Yan Bofei stepped down from the management of Jifeng and Yu Miao, a post-70s entrepreneur, took over as the general manager of Jifeng Bookstore. In Yan Bofei's view, the "free moral rationality" expressed in Yu Miao made him a rare successor.
On April 23, 2013, World Book Day, Jifeng Bookstore at Shanghai Library officially opened.
Four years later, on the same day, Yu Miao announced that this store would soon come to an end.
That day was also World Book Day.
The remaining time for the Shanghai Jifeng Bookstore is only 283 days.
For 283 days, readers kept coming to say goodbye at Jifeng Bookstore. They wrote their thoughts on postcards and posted them on the mirrors until soon farewell messages covered an entire wall. In the upper left corner of the glass wall, a phrase reads: “One day if I have to leave here, those shining thoughts, please return to my feet one last time.” In the upper right corner, it states: Countdown of days until the temporary farewell of Jifeng Bookstore.
At that time, the readers' messages on the glass wall were still preserved by Jifeng Bookstore. In the newly reopened Jifeng Bookstore in Washington, a small glass wall was specially set up to display some of the readers' messages again. Additionally, Yu Miao wrote a new slogan on the glass: “Wind's voice; Freedom‘s Choice.”
The documentary not only captures the final farewell of Jifeng Bookstore's readers but also documents its last struggle in Shanghai: in the bookstore's office, they discovered listening bugs, and law enforcement teams continuously came to "enforce" regulations, with events being repeatedly canceled on request. The 20th-anniversary special edition had to be recalled and destroyed due to reports of “illegal printing.” On the eve of Jifeng Bookstore's closure, readers spontaneously came to say their final goodbyes, only to find the bookstore was experiencing a power outrage. They turned on the flashlights on their phones and continued their graceful farewells in the flickering glow of their screens. In the end, Yu Miao stood on a table and said to the readers: “After tonight, there will be no more Jifeng Bookstore in Shanghai, but the monsoon will continue to blow, and we will meet again in the future!”
The documentary not only captures the final farewell of Feng Bookstore's readers but also documents its last struggle in Shanghai: in the bookstore's office, they discovered listening devices, and law enforcement teams continuously came to "enforce" regulations, with events being repeatedly canceled on request. The 20th-anniversary special edition had to be recalled and destroyed due to reports of “illegal printing.” On the eve of Feng Bookstore's closure, readers spontaneously came to say their final goodbyes, only to find the power out. They turned on the flashlights on their phones and continued their graceful farewells in the flickering glow of their screens. In the end, Yu Miao stood on a table and said to the readers: “After tonight, there will be no more Feng Bookstore in Shanghai, but the wind will continue to blow, and we will meet again in the future!”
4
After the closure of the Jifeng Bookstore, Yu Miao went to the United States to study political science, a field he loves. In 2022, Yu Miao's wife was stopped at the airport and was not allowed to visit their child and husband in the U.S. After five months of vigorous advocacy, one month of public protests, and three months of still waiting, Yu Miao's wife finally reunited with her family in the U.S. in May 2023. Since then, the family decided to stay in America.
At the end of August 2024, Yu Miao announced, “We’re here after six years! On this new land, we are restarting Jifeng and bringing the only Chinese bookstore to DC.”
On September 1 the Jifeng Bookstore officially opened, attracting countless readers and media attention. In the following two weeks, the bookstore became a trending topic on North American social networks, even earning a special feature in the campus newspaper of University of the District Columbia where Yu Miao is studying. Yu Miao mentioned that it was a “digital writing course” at school that initially inspired him to reopen the bookstore.
On September 12, the newly reopened bookstore hosted its first humanities forum: Professor Wu Guoguang from Stanford University presented "Public Life and Ethnic Freedom—From 'Sub-Exile' to the Cultural Reconstruction of Overseas Chinese”.
Yu Miao and his wife began to get busy as soon as they entered the bookstore since the lecture was set to start at 5:30 PM. Yu Miao kept on adjusting the microphone, checking the projector, and arranging the newly delivered chairs. His wife meticulously placed seat numbers on the chairs. Both of them paid great attention to details and pursued perfection. They even considered several times how the chairs should be arranged. In the last four years of the Shanghai Jifeng Bookstore, they organized over 800 cultural events, with a total attendance of 100,000 people. For Yu Miao, the bookstore is not just a bookstore; it is a public cultural space.
The next day, Professor Pei Minxin from Claremont McKenna College presented a lecture titled "Rights and Privacy in the Digital Age," which is the theme of his new book, "The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship in China." Professor Pei analyzed the existence and operation of China's mysterious national security system and how it impacts the lives of every Chinese citizen. Such a lecture would be unimaginable in mainland China, seemingly echoing the motto displayed at the front of the Jifeng Bookstore: "wind's voice, freedom's choice”.
The emergence of the Jifeng Bookstore has greatly cheered up overseas Chinese communities. Professors Wu Guoguang and Pei Minxin volunteered to give lectures, offering their support for the bookstore. As a Shanghai native, Pei Minxin shared his connection with the Jifeng Bookstore during its time in Shanghai, expressing his delight at seeing such a knowledgeable bookstore in Shanghai and his joy at its reopening in Washington. Scholar Xu Ben even sent a box of his own books as a congratulations gift. One reader walked into the bookstore and remarked on how long it had been since they had seen so many high-quality Chinese books all together, noting that many of the books are banned in mainland China.
Yu Miao is so confident about the newly opened bookstore that he even has signed a ten-year lease in one go. On the first day of business, the bookstore's revenue exceeded ten thousand dollars; by the first weekend, it surpassed three to four thousand dollars. He has even more plans for the bookstore, including establishing an online sales platform, reviving the "Jifeng Book News," creating a second-hand book section, and developing related products. He also envisions using the bookstore as a foundation to create a multifaceted public cultural and intellectual space for overseas Chinese, where they can learn and think about what freedom means in a free country, building new glory and new dreams. This is nearly impossible in today's China but represents a common cultural aspiration for the new generation of overseas Chinese. He remarked, "The hardest part is not understanding American laws. Everything needs to be learned anew because the experience from Shanghai counts for nothing in Washington D.C."
Six years ago, after the Shanghai Jifeng Bookstore announced its countdown to farewell, its WeChat public account continued to share a poem every day to bid farewell to its readers. One of the poems was an excerpt from "Incantation" by Milosz:
Human reason is beautiful and invincible.
No bars, no barbed wire, no pulping of books,
No sentence of banishment can prevail against it.
It establishes the universal ideas in language,
And guides our hand so we write Truth and Justice
With capital letters, lie and oppression with small.
It puts what should be above things as they are,
Is an enemy of despair and a friend of hope.
